Alyss, Please Survive
by With-the-Wolves
Summary: A Ranger's Apprentice version of The Hunger Games! When Alyss gets reaped, how will Will react? Will he be able to deal with it? No! Will he join a rebellion and try to save her? Yes!
1. Prologue

**Merry Thanksgiving! I was bored so I started writing this, and now I'm really getting into it. I will be having a points system and I will accept character submissions. The form is at the bottom. Soo... Please Enjoy!**

Will shot another arrow, missing the target completely once again. He groaned in frustration. He had been practicing for what felt like months, yet he still wasn't getting any better.

Will was one of the many adolescents between the ages of ten through fifteen in the huge country of Araluen, a fact that didn't still his nerves at all. The number of adolescents seemed small to Will, even tiny.

In less than an hour, Will and all of the other Araluen children would be herded into Redmont Square for the reaping. Will knew that his chances of being reaped were high. He had been forced to sign up for tesseray in the previous years. By this, his fourth year, he would have his name in the lottery more than two hundred times.

His real worry was for Alyss, though. He knew that she was in much more danger of being reaped than Will was. Yet, she didn't seem to be worried at all.

He figured that she was just trying not to panic. That would be understandable. Yet it seemed like something more...unnatural.

Will tried to mimic her calm nature, but it was impossible for just wasn't willing to forget Jenny. If only she were still alive...

"Will!" Came a voice from behind Will. He turned, surprised that Alyss would be visiting him at that time.

"I thought you would be training," Will said, wondering whether Alyss could hear his heart pounding.

"What would be the point?" She said, rolling her eyes. "They train you enough if you get reaped."

Will sighed when she said this. "I just think that we should be prepared."

Alyss looked at him. "I think we should enjoy our time now," She said softly.

Just then the reaping bell tolled. Their signal to go to the center of Redmont, Redmont Square with hundreds of other children.

Will felt a terrible weight settle in his chest. Reaping time had come.

Alyss turned and began calmly striding toward the square. When she noticed that Will wasn't with her, she turned and looked over her shoulder. She glanced at him, shook her head, and continued on her way.

Will stood there for a second, watching Alyss confidently walk to Redmont Square. He wished that he was feeling like that. Confident that he would not be reaped.

Suddenly, he got a strong feeling of someone watching him. He turned, just in time to see a cloaked figure disappear into the woods.

**Okay...here we go..**

**Name:**

**Gender:**

**Country:(list at bottom)**

**Appearance:(hair, eyes, skin, etc.)**

**Personality:**

**Death Preference/ Bloodbath character:**

**Other:(anything you would like to add that is not in this form)**

**Needed Countries**

**Araluen: 1 girl, 2 guys**

**Skandia:2 girls, 2 guys**

**Temujai: 2 girls, 2 guys**

**Gallica:2 girls, 2 guys**

**Arrida:2 girls, 2 guys**

**Clonmel:2 girls, 2 guys**

**Points system info will be in the next chapter. :)**

**-MEEEEEE**


	2. The Reaping

**I couldn't wait to write this chapter, but it might be awhile before I get chapter 2 up. Really, this really does depend on your reveiws. Because, if you don't make up characters for me, I'll have to think them all up myself. True story.**

* * *

><p>Will tried to appear calm at the reaping. He noticed a pair of children, hugging each other and weeping. One of them must have been eleven. He grimaced as a worker roughly pulled them apart, and shoved the older one into the center of the square.<p>

Will hoped that he appeared nonchalant, at very least not panicky. He tried to find Alyss somewhere in the crowd, but she was nowhere to be seen.

_Did she desert?_ Will thought, almost panicking. Anyone who skipped reaping was put to death. He drew in a nervous breath, then let it out as he finally saw her standing in the crowd.

He started making his way towards her, having to fight a crowd of scared children, but eventually, he made it over to her.

She glanced at him, then said, "I had hoped that you would desert."

"It wouldn't be worth it," Will replied, "I'm going to die if I'm reaped, anyway."

She smiled, but before she could say anything more, the reaping started.

Will felt an explosion of nervousness in his stomach. He barely listened to anything the announcer, Ms. Whats-Her-Name, said. Something about the 60th Hunger Games. It probably wasn't worth listening to, anyway.

A myriad of thoughts ran through his heads, but one ran clearer than all the others. _What if I'm chosen?_

The announcer said something else, and then reached into the reaping ball, the girls would be announced first, then the boys, but Will still felt an absurd anxiety that his name would be the one picked.

The announcer grabbed a strip of paper, with some unlucky child's name on it.

The lady made a big show of unfolding it, Will's anxiety increasing with every second.

_Just open it already!_ He thought in desperation.

Finally, the announcer got it open. She read the name then announced with excitement "Alyss Mainwaring!"

Will suddenly couldn't feel the ground beneath him. He tried to make himself beleive that he had misheard, but, in the back of his mind, he knew differently. He could hear someone screaming, but he wasn't sure who. _I'm going to miss the rest of the reaping,_ he thought. Thiat was the last thing he was aware of before he blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong>Isn't it weird how we always have stupid thoughts right before we black out?<strong>

**I promised a point system so..here**

**A Reveiw: 40,000,000 points...Just kidding, only 30**

**Regular character submission: 60 points**

**Bloodbath Character Submission: 40 points**

**Story Alert: 80 points**

**Story Favorite: 90 points**

**Author Alert: 105 points**

**Author Favorite: 125 points Reserved For My Loyal Fans**


	3. Awakening Sorrow

**Hey people who have bothered to read this. I finally have all of the characters(thank you to ForeverTexas for submitting Isabelle, and thank you to pearlgirl97 for submitting Celeste, the three other Temujai characters, and all of the Arrida characters. You are awesome!) and I was finally able to write this chapter. Things should go faster after this. For anyone interested, the current point balances are: pearlgirl97,400; ForeverTexas,385; Muha4,30; and catdreamer98;30. Thank you, everyone who reveiwed.**

* * *

><p>Will woke up, still in the square. He opened his eyes, and saw George sitting next to him. Will groggily sat up. "George?" He asked, not daring to even think about what had caused him to pass out.<p>

George looked at Will, a sad look in his eyes. "I brought you a list." he said, not saying what they both knew.

Will stared at George, remembering everything he had ever done with Alyss and realized that he would most likely never see her again. He sighed. "Let me see," he said gazing at the parchment that George had with him.

George handed it to him in silence.

Will solemnly unrolled it. He gazed at the words, not wanting to believe what was written there.

_Araluen  
><em>_Alyss Mainwaring  
><em>_Austen Pinace  
><em>_Sara McLinely  
><em>_Tyler Gronay_

_Arrida  
><em>_Brian Whigef  
><em>_Kim Pasedes  
><em>_Tyler Gersher  
><em>_Vanessa Higaldio_

_Clonmel  
><em>_Celeste Aana  
><em>_Cindy Revas  
><em>_Tucker Dasefe  
><em>_Westley Madriv_

_Gallica  
><em>_Anna Cyrah  
><em>_Ashley Redkifquel  
><em>_Racele Mhide  
><em>_Wayge Mintrle_

_Skandia  
><em>_Alkaney Herord  
><em>_Jake Takeo  
><em>_Julia Windres  
><em>_Wren Polik_

_Temujai  
><em>_Isabelle Thomas  
><em>_Justin Dregas  
><em>_Michael Plisho  
><em>_Rose Mikeley_

Will looked up from the list. "Thanks, George, but this really doesn't reassure me. I know nothing about anyone on this list except for Alyss."

George smiled sadly. "There were a lot of eleven-year-olds reaped this year." He pointed to Julia Windres's name. "She is eleven" He scanned the list for more names. "Cindy Reves. She is only eleven."

Will looked at George. "It's supposed to reassure me that Picta feels no remorse over sending eleven-year-olds to the games?"

George looked at the ground. "I meant that they wouldn't be much competition for Alyss, but I see what you mean."

"I just don't understand how Picta could be so soulless. We should be leading ourselves, not them leading us."

George looked at Will, surprised. No one who knew Jenny had talked traitorously about Picta since she died.

Will looked at George. "You know that it was no accident that Alyss was reaped, right?"

George looked around them, but the square was empty. "I know, Will"

They were silent for a moment, contemplating Alyss's fate.

Will broke the silence. "I wish my last glimpse of her wasn't as I was fainting."

George looked at Will, confused. Then, he realized, "Will! They haven't left yet. We can still see her again!"

Will felt his heart leap in. The tributes always left barely four hours after the reaping. Will looked around for a clock. "George, how long was I asleep?"

George thought a moment, then jumped to his feet. "About four hours, Will! We have to go!

Will jumped to his feet, feeling cheated. He ran ahead of George, desperately needing to get to Alyss before she left.

They ran toward Castle Redmont, the only noise in the otherwise empty streets. Will heard George gasp as he tripped over a stray log, but Will didn't stop to help him. He could see the gates getting closer now, and the guards standing on either side. They were armed, and Will couldn't help feeling like they were going to harm him if he asked to see Alyss. Then he remembered where she was going, and decided that it didn't matter if he died.

He skidded to a halt in front of the gates. "I'm here to Alyss Mainwaring." He said to one of the guards. "She is one of the tributes."

One of the soldiers looked at him, and Will could tell from his eyes that it would be bad news. "They have already gone." He said. "They left about ten minutes ago."

Will couldn't stop the tears that came to his eyes. He felt like his heart had been ripped out and he felt a sob rising in his throat. He turned, and went back down the path. He didn't run back to George, or even back to his home. Will knew where he was going to go.

He turned the corner, walking down the road toward his home, but also toward his destination. One of the soldiers watched him go. He had seen him fall when his friend had been reaped, and he felt sorry for the boy, but there was nothing to be done. He sighed and continued watching the road.

Will walked down the path, the one that he and Alyss had walked countless times before. He remembered past reapings when they had walked in relief. He remembered sorrow when Jenny died. Happiness just being together. Will walked with tears hitting the ground before him, and staining the ground behind him.

He walked right past Alyss's house, where he knew her parents would be crying, too. He walked past his own house, where he lived with others whose parents had died in the rebellion. He thought of Horace, who would be inside, remembering Jenny and Alyss as well.

He plodded along, until he came to the fence that kept everyone who valued their life away from Jenny. Will felt more remorse, remembering how Jenny had died, and, not wasting another second, began to scale the fence.

He didn't care about the sign, offering certain death to anyone who broke the boundary. He jumped over the top, grunting as he hit the ground. Standing up, he looked around the small circle of fence. It wasn't hidden. Anyone walking by could see Will. But most people were inside their houses today.

He slowly walked to the very center of the circle, where a small brick lay embedded in the dirt. He looked down at it, remembering the words that the Scotti had engraved on it.

_Jenny  
><em>_1098-1110  
><em>_She was a traitor._

Will felt a surge of anger, reading it again. It had been two years since the funeral. Two years since she had gone, yet the anger still had a strong hold on Will. Then, however, the anger only gave way to sadness. Will sat on the ground, half-falling on the way down, and looked at the patch of earth where Jenny was.

Will couldn't bear it. He put his face in his hands and began to sob.

He was unaware of the person in the woods, watching him.

* * *

><p><strong>I nearly cried while writing this. It was just so sad. Okay, next chapter is going to be from Alyss's point of veiw. Yeah! As for my points things, here is a list of things that you get for any tribute, as long as they aren't dead.<strong>

**Food items-5-30 points, or a little more depending on how many. **

**Rope-30 points**

**Painkillers- 50 points, depending on how strong**

**Simple Medicines(anything generally easy to heal)- 70 points**

**Regular Medicines(For the kinds of things you should go to the doctor for)- 80 points**

**Rare Medicines(Things that we don't have cures for/rare poisons)-100 points**

**Strikers-90 points**

**A set of knifes(you know the ones)-100 points**

**Dagger-100 points**

**Bow and 10 arrows-120 points**

**25 extra arrows-30 points**

**Sword-150 points**

**If you think of anything you would like to get that is not listed here, just PM me. Reveiw saying what you would like to get and for who, also.**


	4. Alyss's Dream

**I promised you guys that this would be from Alyss's POV. It is, and it wasn't terribly difficult to do. Uh..I feel that putting current points would be a waste of time, so I won't. I wrote this yesterday, after a basketball game. I got really mad after this game, but you guys don't need to hear about my problems. Besides, I have another story to tell.  
>Ok, so today was our UIL competitions. I was in Art and Science I. I think I did okay,(better than my teammates, at least) and hopefully I got some form of medal. My boyfriend's friend had a mini spoon while we were there, and, while we were waiting for our events, he turned to me and said, "I'm trusting you to guard my stuff." To which I said, "What if I leave?" He replied, "I will stab you." I said, "With what." Then he pulled out the spoon and started poking with it. It hurt pretty bad, you know, as much as a useless utensil can hurt one. Which is pretty much not at all.<br>This is a really long author's note, so I'm just going to stop it here. Enjoy this chapter!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Alyss looked out of the window, her heart pounding faster than it ever had before. She held her breath, trying her best not to have a complete meltdown.<p>

She sighed as she ran the contents of the past few hours through her mind. She remembered the reaping, how she had been so sure that it would not be her name that was picked. She understood why Will had been so worried.

Alyss felt her heart breaking at the thought of Will. She had watched him fall at the reaping, and she had nearly cried when he didn't come to see her before they left. It would have been good to have seen him before the carriage ride to Picta.

She stuck her head out of the window, which had been left unbarred because she was too high up to jump. She looked down at the dizzying height, and felt another pang of homesickness hit her. She remembered how Will had dealt with her fear of heights. Laughing at her, while also holding her, helping her. She felt hot tears come to her eyes.

Turning away from the window, Alyss surveyed the room that would be her home until the games. It wasn't very large, and it had an oppressive feeling to it. Alyss new that it had been given to many people who were deceased. But, despite this, it had a soft bed, and the door had been left unlocked.

Swallowing her tears, Alyss turned to the door, which was unlocked to allow the tributes to visit each other. She briefly considered walking out and exploring the halls and rooms, but Alyss did not want to see another person.

She sat on the bed, sadly thinking of the past day. Will had trained all day, while Alyss had been running around with Horace. She realized that she should have prepared more.

Suddendly, a wave of fatigue hit her. She laid down, pulling the thin blanket over her.

She closed her eyes, and sleep took her in seconds. She was fitfull, though, as she was having a dream.

* * *

><p><em>She was running straight through Redmont Square. It was a very generic place, but in seconds Alyss knew where she was. She looked to her right, and was only a little surprised to see Jenny running beside her.<em>

_ Jenny whispered something, but Alyss nearly didn't hear it through the noise of the wind. Alyss could just make out, "Just a little further, Lyss, we have almost made it."_

_ Alyss found herself grinning at Jenny. "I know, Jenn. I just can't believe that we actually did that."_

_ They were running on grass now, with the forest about a tenth of a mile away._

_ Jenny smiled. "We are going to be the first rebels who weren't caught, Lyss!"_

_ Alyss smiled too. She had no doubts that the forest would protect them. And they were less than four hundred meters away._

_ Then she felt something _whizz _past her head. She heard a gasp of pain from Jenny, and a _thump _as Jenny hit the ground._

_ Alyss stopped, not daring to breathe. She knelt down next to Jenny, forgetting about some unseen archer. Jenny was laying face-first in the grass, barely breathing. Jenny turned Jenny over, hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it sounded. She gasped when she saw the wound._

_ There was an arrow protruding from Jenny's chest. Blood was seeping out of the wound, and Alyss felt horror when she realized that Jenny's life was on her hands. Alyss went numb with shock, and she heard herself babbling, "Jenn! We were supposed to be successfull! We just had to make it to the woods!" She felt herself crying, but she was barely aware of it._

_ Jenny looked at Alyss, her face contorted in pain, her eyes alight with fear. "You can still make it, Lyss. Go and hide. It will do no good to have both of us dead." She closed her eyes, her breathing getting weaker. "Lyss, please don't give up."_

_ Alyss was struck by how mature Jenny sounded. She still couldn't believe it. Jenny was dying. Alyss didn't care about the soldiers she could hear coming. She was losing her best friend, when they were only twelve years old. She could wait a little longer. _

_ Letting out a shaky breath, Alyss managed to squeak, "I'll miss you, Jenn."_

_ Jenny drew in a laborious breath. "I will miss you too, Lyss."_

_ She breathed in one last shuddering breath, and fell silent._

_ Alyss tried to get to her feet, but she couldn't summon the strength. She heard the soldiers coming over the hill, and likely would have waited for them to kill her, if she didn't remember what Jenny had said, 'It will do no good to have both of us dead.'_

_ Summoning a little strength in her legs, Alyss managed to get to her feet. She turned, taking shaky steps similar to a four-year-old's, and ran into the woods. She had forgotten all about the archer who must have been in there._

* * *

><p>Alyss woke up, gasping. She was unspeakably glad that the dream had stopped there. She didn't need more reminders of what had happened.<p>

She sat in her bed for a few minutes, trying to return her breathing to normal. It was a while before she became aware of someone knocking on the door.

* * *

><p><strong>So, what did you think? Please reviw and tell me! Next chapter will be Will's POV. I am currently pretty uninspired, but I'm sure something will come to me. If not, there is always a chance that it will be Alyss's POV. Or someone else's.<strong>


	5. Alkaney

**I know that I told you guys that this would be a Will chapter. It isn't, sorry, but after watching _The Nightmare before Christmas_(such a creepy movie), I wasn't really in a mood to write something good about Will. Plus, I couldn't think of anything. Um...This chapter will not be my best one. Really, I just couldn't think of anything better to give you guys, so...  
>This is a lot shorter than the past two chapters were. I might make up for it in the next chapter, which I'll still need to think of something AMAZING for.<strong>

**Story: My boyfriend's friend (There are a lot of stories about him) told me today that he wanted to become a mall Santa and tell little kids that Santa isn't real. He doesn't really grasp ethics. Or the fact that certain crazy parents would pepper-spray him for that. He is a freak.**

* * *

><p>Alyss opened the door to find a thin, pale girl outside.<p>

She smiled at Alyss, her orange eyes flashing in a friendly way. "Hi, I'm meeting all of the tributes. Gotta find out about competition, right?" She laughed, and Alyss was taken aback by her cheeriness.

Alyss felt like she should smile, but she couldn't muster one. The girl noticed this and her smile faltered. "Is something wrong?"

Alyss looked at her incredulously "You aren't nervous? We just were reaped. Sorry for not being all happy about that."

"I know that you aren't cheery about that." The girl said, "What else is wrong?"

Alyss found it creepy that she knew that something was wrong. "How do you know that something is wrong?"

The girl's smile faded. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to pry. I should probably be going." She looked over her shoulder at the hallway behind her. She turned to face the hallway behind her. She looked over her shoulder at Alyss. "I'm Alkaney, by the way.

"I'm Alyss."

Alyss felt a pang of sorrow. Alkaney had been the first person Alyss had seen for hours, and Alyss felt herself miss Will even more. Before she could stop herself she yelled, "Wait!"

Alkaney looked at Alyss and smiled. She walked back to Alyss and said, "So, do you want to tell me why you are upset?"

Alyss sighed. There were so many reasons for her to be upset. "It's a long story."

Alkaney cocked her head. "What else do we have to do?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Alyss.

Alyss nodded, and gestured Alkaney into her room. Alkaney looked around for a second, and sat on the bed. "Now for the story," she said, lookeing at Alyss expectantly.

Alyss sat on the floor,and began, choosing her words carefully. "I have a boyfriend...Will." She started, watching Alkaney for any sign of hostility.

Alkaney gestured for her to continue.

Alyss sighed, and, not finding any reason not to tell her, continued, " We've been together for a while..."

They continued for what felt to Alyss like minutes, but when she stood up and looked at the window, it was pitch dark outside.

Alkaney looked outside, and, seeing that Alyss had finished, stood up. "I should go. Someone might have stolen my bed or something." She laughed, and turned to leave. She looked over her shoulder at Alyss. "This was fun." She walked down the hallway, and turned the corner, away from Alyss's line of vision.

Alyss didn't feel a pang of loneliness this time. She watched Alkaney turn the corner and smiled. Finally. Something positive.

Glancing again at the darkness outside, Alyss was able to think clearly. Alkaney had helped her realize that Will hadn't completely forgotten about her. Alyss felt a little embarrased that the thought had ever been in her head.

Alyss laid in her bed, and she felt a little comfortable, even though a familiar face would be appreciated. Sleep came easily that night, and she slept soundly.

The next morning, training began.

**No, I will not have an Alyss/Alkaney thing. Seriously, that would just be weird. Not to mention the fact that Alyss has a boyfriend named Will. Alkaney will just be a kindred spirit for Alyss during training. So Alyss has a friend.**


	6. Insults Lead to Violence

**Thank you, pearlgirl97, for giving me the idea for this. You are awesome! Also, thank you to Muha4 and ForeverTexas for being amazing reveiwers. You guys rock!  
>I have a band concert in a about an hour, so I have to make this fast. p.S. I look AWESOME right now!<strong>

* * *

><p>Will woke up on Jenny's grave a few hours later. He still felt immensely sad, but at least his head was clearer.<p>

Ge stood up and looked around, making sure that no one was watching him. He climbed the fence, and landed on the other side. Slowly, he started walking away, checking every so often to make sure that he had no unseen watchers.

Once he got to town, he relaxed. He was surprised by the crowd, usually people stayed in their houses for awhile after the reaping. Then he realized that it had already been eight hours.

He looked around at the families around him. He realized that any of them could be the parents of Alyss's competitors. He shuddered.

He ducked into Ferdinand's restaurant, and saw George sitting at one of the tables. He walked over to him, and sat in the chair across from him. "Sorry about leaving you behind awhile ago."

George shrugged. "You weren't exactly thinking straight."

Will laughed a little. "I'm not exactly thinking straight now."

George opened his mouth, but before he could respond, the door opened violently.

A child of about their age walked in, followed by two younger boys. He had dark black hair, and dark eyes that looked almost black from where Will was sitting. He wore a smirk on his face, and Will couldn't help instantly disliking him.

He walked to a table near Will and George's. He sat down, and Will felt as if he had an air of contempt about him.

Ferdinand came over and began to take their orders. The kid muttered something that Will couldn't make out, and apparently, Ferdinand couldn't either. He asked the child to repeat the order.

He let out an exagerrated sigh. "People just can't hear these days. I ordered some minestrone soup. Can you hear that?"

Will felt a burning anger in himself. Ferdinand had been Jenny's role-model. She loved the way that he ran his restaurant. He was a good person, and, after Jenny died, Will, Alyss, George, and Horace had spent an increased amount of time at his restaurant.

Will started restraining himself. He looked at George, and saw a white fury in his eyes.

The child smiled at the younger kids as Ferdinand hurried away to get their orders. "I'm glad that Sara finally decided to volunteer. She is going to win. It is so obvious."

Will felt his blood boil when he said this. Will glanced at George, but he was staring at the kid. Will turned around just as he started talking again.

"Those others don't stand a chance. Especially that Alyss girl. she is going to be the first one to die."

Will couldn't stop himself from jumping to his feet, and he couldn't help it when walked over to the table. Everything had become a rad haze, and Will only knew a deep rage. The kid turned around just as Will jumped on him.

The next things happened in a blur to Will. He was aware only of the two young boys screaming, and George cheering him on. He barely realized that he was punching the boy.

He became aware of someone trying to stop him from hrting the boy, and he tried to fight it. But the person was strong. He pulled Will off of the boy, and yanked him to his feet. It was Ferdinand.

His eyes were full of fire, and he began to yell at Will, calling him numerous things, and nearly breaking Will's eardrums in the process. Throughout this, Will was aware of the boy slinking out of the store.

Will tried to stop Ferdinand, but he kept going.

George was watching this, and eventually, he yelled, "STOP!"

Ferdinand turned to look at him, and George motioned for Will to say something.

Will hesitated for a moment. "He was insulting Alyss." He said dully.

Ferdinand's eyes turned quickly to sympathy. He sighed. "I understand, but did you really need to attack him?"

Will let out a heavy breath. "I've been a little...off since the reaping."

Ferdinand nodded and went back to the kitchen, leaving George and Will alone.

Will turned to George."How bad was it?"

* * *

><p><strong>Gotta Go! Hope you liked this.<strong>


	7. Alyss, Tyler, and Knives

**Last night, after the band concert, Logan(my boyfriend's friend) was walking back to the band hall with me, and the whole time he was telling me about how loudly the saxophones were playing. We had this whole argument about it, and it ended with him threatening to get a squirt bottle and spray me with it. He is weird.  
><strong>**Walking back to the band hall, my feet were freezing because I wasn't wearing my shoes...they were heels and VERY difficult to walk in. My friend, Epi, kept saying that I was going to step on glass or something...I didn't.**

* * *

><p>Alyss looked around at the contenders, her nerves higher than she could ever remember them being before.<p>

She could see Alkaney fitting an arrow into a bow. She brought up the bow in a second, and she hit the target extremely close to the center. Alyss considered going joining her, but decided against it, figuring that it would only make her think of Will.

She looked around at the other places, and was attracted to the knife throwing center. She saw a boy there about two years younger than her throwing knives, or at least trying to. He was missing most of his throws. He had sandy blonde hair, and heavily tanned skin. She felt like she knew him from somewhere, and then realized why. He was from Araluen. He had been reaped right after Alyss.

She walked over to him, and he turned slightly towards her and nodded his head in greeting. The instructor didn't look up as he walked up, and Alyss thought a variety of insults toward him, mainly about how he didn't pay attention. She stopped in front of an open target.

The boy turned toward her as she reached down to pick up a knive. He waited until she stood up and said, "You were reaped in Araluen, right?"

Alyss sighed. It had been a mistake coming over here. "Yes."

He started to throw another knife. "Well, I saw that guy faint when your name was called." He threw the knife, and watched it hit the oversized target. Ten centimeters from the center. He groaned in exasperation and turned back to Alyss. "I'm not very good at this."

Alyss gripped her knife. "I'm not exactly expecting to be amazing at this." She threw the knife and stared, dumbfounded as it hit the center.

The boy raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? You weren't expecting to be amazing at this? You had to have done this before."

She raised her hands in surrender. "I've never done this before." She said, laughing.

He picked up another knife and threw it, letting out a growl of frustration when he missed. He looked at Alyss. "How do you do it?"

She picked up another knife, and shrugged. "I don't really know how I do it." She threw the knife, and watched, amazed, as it hit the center again. She looked at the boy. "I have no idea. It's just...natural."

The boy shrugged. "Why does everyone say that? It's not as if I'm a threat." He said playfully.

Alyss smiled at him and picked up another knife. It hit the center, and Alyss felt her spirits lift a little.

She threw knives with Tyler for over a hour, joking with him in between each throw. Eventually, though, she knew that she should move on. "I'm going to go." She said, still laughing. "I should probably practice something that I'm not good at."

He nodded, "If only you knew how to explain this to me."

She smiled, "Sorry, but I'm no teacher." She started to walk away.

He called to her, "My name is Tyler."

Alyss looked over her shoulder at him. "Alyss."

She sighed inwardly, knowing that one, if not both of them, would have to die.

* * *

><p><strong>Here's chapter...6, I think? Hope you liked it. Please tell me what you think!<strong>


	8. Horace

**Today, we decorated our Christmas tree. It looks very pretty, even though we have a bunch of willy-nilly decorations everywhere. I painted a snowman ornament earlier. He is now blue, and my entire family is saying that he looks like a penguin! Really. I expect this from my mother, because she just insults my drawings, like once, when I was little, I drew a picture, wnd she told me that she liked the AIR! What? Then, a few years ago, I drew a picture of myself, and she said, "People's noses aren't really like that." Then, today, I drew a wolf, ansd she said, "I thought it was an elephant." What? How in the world does a wolf look like an elephant?  
>Uh...I cannot watch TV all weekend for my reading GT project, as we are reading Fahrenheit 451. It is really good so far. I finished part 2 today. I'm a little sad because of what happens...<strong>

* * *

><p>Will walked through the square, George beside him. They walked in silence, though Will could tell that George was dying to say something. George opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Will shot him a look.<p>

They turned down the street leading to their home. Will sighed when it came into view, relieved to be away from people.

They walked in the door, and Will hoped that Horace had gone out. Will didn't need him eavesdropping on their conversation.

Will walked straight to the bedroom, and sat on his bed, staring at George who was still standing. "So?"

George was silent for a moment, then burst out, "That was great! Will, I have never seen you do anything like that before! It was so...out of character!"

Will glared at him. "George, stop shouting. Horace could be lurking somewhere, and I do not want him to know about this."

As if on cue, Horace walked through the door. He faced Will. "What did you do?" He said, glancing around the room, nervously.

Will sighed. Horace had been a nervous wreck ever since Jenny had died. "Nothing for you to be worrying about, Horace."

Horace still looked nervous. "You didn't do anything to attract attention?"

Will shook his head.

Horace turned to George. "Why were you shouting? That could lead them to us, you know."

George looked at Will, and Will saw his feelings reflected in George's eyes. They both hated Picta for doing this to Horace.

George faced Horace again. "I wasn't aware that I was shouting."

Horace looked at him in disbelief, and Will could almost believe that Horace was back to normal. Until he said, "Well, make sure that you stay away from anyone...suspiscious." He turned and walked out of the room.

Will looked at George. "Thanks for helping to avoid that." He said sarcastically.

George smiled half-heartedly. "Sorry, but what you did was just..." He trailed off.

Will laid back on his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling, thinking about how easily wood burnt...like Jenny's house had.

Will sighed, thinking about how easily he could lose Alyss. He dreaded the games starting, when live footage would be projected into the sky, using some system of Malkallam, the sorcerer's. Will shuddered.

Will closed his eyes, and went to sleep, oblivious to George, still watching him.

* * *

><p><strong>0_0 I can't believe that I did this to Horace...or did I?<strong>


	9. Traps, Insults, and More Violence

**Here is chapter 8, in which Alyss makes a new enemy! Yay! Uh..There is a poll on my profil page that I need some votes on. It is on whether Will should meet Tug, Halt, or Gilan first in this story. You should vote. Just click on my pen name.  
>Yeah...<strong>

* * *

><p>Alyss walked over to the trapping center, figuring that she could use the knowledge of traps.<p>

She saw two kids there. The first was a guy about a year older than Alyss, with dark black hair, and skin that seemed extremely pale by comparison. The other had black hair as well, but his skin was a healthy tan color, and he was much smaller.

The instructor greeted her when she walked over, and immediately began instructing her on how to make a simple rope trap. It took her a few tries, but eventually, she figured out the mechanism, and was able to make the trap successfuly.

He told her to make five of them, and she began, occasionaly messing up, but making them fairly quickly. She began to walk over to the instructor, but the smaller guy got her attention.

He waved her over towards him, and she walked over. She looked over his features, and saw herself instantly liking the guy.

He said, "where are you from?"

She rolled her eyes. This was a waste of time. Humoring him, she answered, "Araluen."

He nodded, and said, "I'm from Clonmel."

She was a little surprised by this. The Clonmel tributes weren't normally cheerful.

He sensed her feelings and responded, "I'm not terribly worried. My life isn't...the best."

She found this hard to believe. Clonmel usually had close-knit cities, as they had a terrible king. At least, she had heard this. "Really?"

Before he could respond, the other guy said angrily, "Yes, he's from Clonmel." Alyss was taken aback by how angry he was.

She turned back to the guy, who was rolling his eyes. "That's Jake. He isn't the most...cheery guy around."

Alyss over her shoulder at Jake, who had gone back to making a complicated trap. She whispered at the first guy, "What country is he from?"

The guy answered, "Skandia."

Alyss nodded. This would account for his huge size. She turned back to the guy. "I didn't get your name."

"Tucker." He said. "And you are?"

"Alyss"

Tucker nodded and went back to work. Alyss shrugged and went back to the instructor, who gave her another trap to do.

She sat down to work on it, and jumped when she heard Tucker say, "Having a good time?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, and went back to work, trying to ignore his comments.

After a while, she started making comments back. The verbal war that followed was inevitable. They began tosay things back and forth, the volumes of their voices increasing with every statement.

They didn't notice Jake looking up at them every so often, or the looks he gave them that could only be described as evil.

Alyss stopped for a moment, after Tucker spat out a hard to follow insult, and Alyss was racking her brain for something to say. Finally, something Horace had told her when they were young came out before Alyss could really think about it. "I know you are, but what am I?" Before she finished saying it, she knew that it had been a horrible comeback.

Tucker burst out laughing. "That was just..horrible." He said, barely able to breath in his laughter. "That was juvenile."

Alyss felt her cheeks growing red in embarrasment. She was about to say something back, when she heard a gnarled roar. She turned toward the source, and saw Jake lunging towards them.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, on the bright side, you guys know exactly where I'm gonna pick up.<strong>


	10. A Hidden Rebellion?

**I wrapped my Christmas presents today. They look very horrible, because I have no idea how to wrap things. But at least they have character! :) Umm...I cannot wait until Christmas, even though we currently only have 10 or so gifts under our tree, most of which are for my friends. Yeah...**

* * *

><p><em>Will was running. He had no idea what was chasing him, but he felt a rush of terror when he felt it getting closer. He looked around, realizing that he was unarmed. He tried not to focus on that, trying only to run faster. He thought that he was gaining distance and relaxed. Then, he felt himself falling. He felt fear overtake his body, and his limbs froze, he hit the ground face-first, and only just managed to avoid landing on a rock. He pushed up from the ground, but the thing was too close. He turned just in time to see a creature covered in shadows raising a sword to peirce Will's body.<em>

Will woke up, breathing heavily. He sat up, and realized that it was pitch black outside. He barely had time to remark on this before he felt something cover his mouth.

His breathing was cut off for a second, and he began to struggle, not caring about how much noise he made. The thing backed off for a second, and Will was about to yell the alarm, when he saw George standing beside him. He let out a breath.

George beckoned him outside, and Will went. As soon as George had closed the door, Will started yelling, "George, was that really necessary? I thought you were a burglar or something!"

He rambled on like this for a few minutes, while George waited for him to calm down. Eventually, he did, and George said, "I thought of something. We can't talk about this around Horace. Who knows if he even realizes that Alyss was reaped?"

Will looked at him. "Why do we have to discuss it in the middle of the night, though?"

"People who didn't know Jenny can't hear this." George said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Will let out a heavy breath. "What?"

George motioned for him to be silent. He gestured down the road, and they saw the unmistakable shadow of a Scotti guard illuminated in the moonlight. George started in the opposite direction, toward the woods, and Will reluctantly followed.

They broke through the woods, watching the road intently for any signs that the guard had seen them. They breathed a sigh of relief when he turned back the other way.

Will turned to George, trying not to be unnerved by the darkness that had engulfed them. "What?"

George looked around, as if to make sure no one was around. "Do you remember what Alyss had told us about what happened when she went in here that day?"

Will looked at George in disbelief. "Of course. How could I possibly forget?"

George looked around again. "Why was that guy in the woods? The guards couldn't possibly have known that they were going there."

"What does this matter? It happened two years ago."

George looked around once more. "Will, do you realize that there could be archers in here right now?"

"Why would there be? And stop looking around like that. You're starting to look like Horace."

George looked at Will impatiently. "Will, there could be something in these woods, or, even, beyond these woods that the Scotti don't want us to find."

Understanding dawned on Will's face. "There could be a rebel army beyond these trees."

They both looked deeper into the forest. They heard an owl screech, and Will jumped. He looked back at George. "What good will this do us, though?"

George continued looking into the forest. "We could join them."

Will sighed. "George, we can't go through the woods, confronting who knows how many soldiers, just to join an army that might not exist."

George looked dissapointed. "We will always be in danger if we stay, though. Even if Alyss does survive."

Will shrugged and started walking out of the woods, keeping carefull watch for the guard. George reluctantly followed him.

They walked back into the house, trying not to make any noise. Will looked at George. "You're right, but we can't risk it right now."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah... please review because then maybe Alyss won't be harmed in the next chapter. Oh, and please vote in my poll for this story over whether Will should meet Gilan, Tug, or Halt first in this story.<strong>


	11. Spilled Blood, Old and New

**Hola. Sorry for the delay in getting this out, but life has been hectic. **

**Anyways, today in school, we were sitting in our cafeteria, waiting for the bell to ring, and Logan came up to me and my friends, and him and Austin, Jeffery, and Josh start doing the instumental to Eye of the Tiger. So, we started doing it, but with the words. Then, we joined together and sang We Will Rock You for everyone. It was pretty cool.**

* * *

><p>Alyss froze in terror at the sight of Jake lunging toward her. She felt a push from behind her and landed heavily on the floor, her heart in her throat. She felt a surge of panic as she felt Jake jumping over her, and rolled out of the way just before Jake landed on top of her.<p>

She jumped to her feet, just in time to see Jake jumping on Tucker. She felt faint seeing blood spilling on the floor. She looked around, wondering why no one was doing anything. She saw some of the trainers looking at them, but not reacting, and some of them were laughing and enjoying watching them.

Alyss felt a surge of anger, and mindlessly jumped on Jake. Her mind was filled with memory, and, for once, she felt a rush of satisfaction about what had taken place two years previous.

She closed her eyes, remembering.

_Alyss ran into the woods, oblivious to the danger. She ran through the carefully cut path, made to be invisible to the Picta soldiers. She jumped over a root that was sticking out of the ground, but she didn't see the branch above her._

_ She ran into it, and heard a sharp _smack_ as it collided with her skull. She saw black on the edge of her vision, but willed it away. Slowly, she got to her feet. She looked behind her, expecting to see soldiers charging through the forest, but no one was there._

_Cautiously, she examined her surroundings. She slowly began to walk away, but she froze when she glimpsed a green uniforms of a Picta soldier. She couldn't help watching it walk through the woods, and Alyss was slightly surprised when she realized that the soldier was alone. Realizing this, Alyss followed it when it got too far for her to see clearly. Suddenly, she heard a sharp_ snap_ as a twig broke under her feet._

_She let out a gasp, and the soldier froze, alert to her prescence. Before Alyss could react, an arrow was zooming towards her, its yellow stripes obvious in the green forest. Alyss felt herself beginning to freeze._

_It was luck that saved her. A small, round object had been in her path, and she somehow slipped on it. She hit the ground hard, and she felt the breath leave her. She let out a barely audible gasp as she struggled to breathe._

_A soldier walked out of the woods, his cold eyes locking on Alyss instantly. He smiled coldly, and Alyss instantly knew that he had killed Alyss. He drew a small knife, and looked at its sharp edge. He nodded in satisfaction. "You would be the friend of that other girl."_

_It wasn't a question, but that didn't stop Alyss from answering, "Yes. You murdered my friend." She said, glaring at him with a sharp gaze that could have cut steel. "Now, you are planning on murdering me."_

_He laughed. "Your friend was a traitor, as are you. The law clearly states that traitors are killed. I wouldn't call that murder."_

_She continued staring at him. "This isn't about the law. It's about what is right. If I killed you right now, as self-defense, I would most certainly be charged murder. Yet, you can kill me for no reason and get off with nothing. You would probably even get an award." _

_"You can't kill me, though. Even if you did, you are the only person who could be responsible. You would be charged without even a trial._

_Alyss smiled at him as her fingers gripped a wooden handle. "I think that you will find that there are many ways that a forest can kill." Quick as a flash, she threw the knife that Jenny had insisted she brought._

_Unprepared, the soldier couldn't dodge fast enough, and he let out a strangled cry as he was hit in the throat. He dropped to the ground, dead before the impact._

_Alyss slowly got to her feet, amazed that she could make a throw so accurate. She walked over, trying not to look in his dead eyes. She grabbed her knife, and ran out of the woods, trying not to think of what had happened._

* * *

><p><strong>Ummm...yeah. I found this hilarious fanfiction called, Deck the Halt with Boughs of Holly, read it if you wanna. "But Christmas trees have to be fluffy!" Haha.<strong>


	12. Alkaney's Story

**Sorry for the delay in geting this chapter out, but if you had had the day I had on Wednesday, you guys would have been delayed, too.**

**We got out of school on Wednesday, the 21st. During 4th period, which was our last period of the day, our principle let us have a Christmas party. My class had the best party, as our teacher let her son hook up his iPod to her radio and play his songs. She also let us turn on a strobe light, move all of the desks, and try to break dance in the middle of the floor. She even let us get our phones out to take pictures and videos. It was fun!**

**Then, as my friend, Kaleigh's, gift to all of her friends, she took us all to Dallas to go on a carriage ride. We were standing on the curb, waiting for our carriage to pull up, and the whole time I was going on about how I hoped we got either gray or black horses so that we could have Tug or kicker horses. I was so happy when we got Kicker horses. I had to try so hard not to go all fan-girl. Eventually, I calmed down, and we started singing Christmas carols badly. Thenb, we ot bored, so we stated singing parodies from this youtube guy called computernerd01. They are really stupid songs, so , of course, my friends and I have memorized most of them. We finished singing one of them, when our driver, Jeremy, asked us how old we were and what grade we were in. That was when we found out that he had been recording us!**

**On the way back, we were sitting in the backseat, innocently playing 20 Questions on my friend's iPod Touch, when this car slammed into us. We were all fine, but we were shaken, and the person doidn't even stop. They just kept driving. So, we pulled off to the side of the highway, where the adult driving us called the police. We sat there for awhile, in the bad part of Dallas, waiting for the police...by thetime we got home, I was tired. It was about one in the morning.**

* * *

><p>Alkaney dragged Alyss back up to her room and closed the door slowly, watching for anyone who might be eavesdropping. She turned to Alyss, that glint still in her eyes. "Wow. A week until the games, and you are already planning your own downfall."<p>

Alyss looked at her, confused. "What do you mean, my own downfall?" I thought having allies was a good idea."

Alkaney sighed. "One or two, yeah, they'll help, but any more than that is just asking people to betray you."

Alyss considered this for a moment. "I don't think anyone who I've talked to will betray me."

Alkaney raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know what you are thinking, but Jake is not likely to invite you to dinner." She said. "Unless, of course, he poisons the food."

Alyss pursed her lips. "So I shouldn't talk to anyone else?"

"No, just don't...befriend anyone."

"Why do you care if I die because someone betrays me? That will just mean less competition for you." Alyss felt her anger rising.

Alkaney tried to hide the conflicting emotions she was feeling. She was silent. Quietly, she said, "Maybe I want to die."

Alyss was confused; Alkaney had never seemed unhappy. Why would she want to die? She asked Alkaney, and was taken aback when Alkaney started crying.

Alkaney cried for a good five minutes, then covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry, Alyss, it's just...a long story."

Alyss playfully raised an eyebrow at her. ""What else are we going to do?"

Alkaney laughed. "Okay, fine, but this is my biggest secret, and you can't tell anyone."

Alyss nodded and made a motion for Alkaney to start.

Alkaney took a deep breath, and began. "Once, when I was only seven, my father and I were in the marketplace. I was looking around while he took care of 'business'" She rolled her eyes, and, when Alyss looked at her questioningly said, "He was a heavy drinker, and he tried to hide from me the fact that he was spending all of our money on mead."

She continued with the story, "Anyway, I was walking around, and a perfect little blown-glass bird caught my eye. It was so pretty, and I felt a rush of excitement just looking at it. I wanted it so badly, Alyss." She said, staring into space with a dreamy look on her face.

"I looked around for my father, and saw him at the alcohol booth, spending away all of our money. I felt a rush of anger, then. Alyss, I was only seven, and I was angry at my father for buying mead. So angry." She took a deep breath, and continued, "I stood there, staring at him, my anger boiling up. Alyss, I didn't try to control it. I wish I had." She was tearing up. "This man came by the stall selling the little bird. He had a little girl about my age walking beside him. He bought the bird, and handed it to the little girl." She stopped abruptly, and started mumbling to herself in a voice too low for Alyss to hear.

After about a minute, Alyss spoke up, "Alkaney, are you okay?"

Alkaney jolted, as if she had been woken from a dream in which she was falling. She looked at Alyss, with eyes full of pain. "I'm fine. I promised to tell you, so I will."

She took a shuddering breath, and said shakily, "I got so mad that the little girl got the bird instead of me. I had my anger right there, but this time, it was directed at the little girl. Before I knew what had happened, she was screaming. The little bird had fallen to the ground, but it was okay. The girl wasn't though, Alyss, she wasn't. Her hand was twisted in a way that I can't even describe. It was so horrible, the screaming. I didn't care though, her father picked her up, and carted her away to some healer. I didn't care about that either. I only wanted the bird."

I walked to it, in the middle of the street, and picked it up. So perfect it was. I tucked it into my jacket, and skipped back to my father. I skipped Alyss, I actually skipped. I wasn't worried about the girl, I didn;t care about her fate. I had the bird."

It's still with me, Alyss, the anger. It has been seven years and I can still feel it. I've brought it upon myself. It's horrible to try to control it, Alyss. Death will cure that. I know it will."

Alyss stared at Alkaney, horrified. Alyss had never been to Skandia, but the story of the girl whos arm had randomly twisted had came all the way to Araluen. She gasped.

Alkaney stared into space, and Alyss followed her gaze, to a little glass bird on Alkney's shelf.

* * *

><p><strong>I have plans...Mwahahahahah!<strong>


	13. Will's Dream

**Merry Christmas Eve everyone! This is a short chapter, I know, but Christmas is tomorrow and...**

* * *

><p><em>Will faced the man, holding his breath. An air of sadness was in the room, nd Will was confused for a second. The man started to walk away, beckoning Will, and he noticed how foreign he looked for the first time. He followed the man, afraid of what the man was leading him to.<em>

_ The man was short in stature, and he seemed aged to Will, though his face was obscured by the mottled gray-green cloak that he was wearing. He stopped abruptly, and Will's surroundings came into focus._

_ They were in a forest. It didn't seem familiar to Will, but he felt like he had been there before. An armored figure on a large, black horse was standing next to the man. The figure got off of the horse, and began talking animatedly toi the cloaked man. Will tried to pick up words, but they seemed to be talking in some foriegn language. Will sighed inwardly._

_ The figures turned toward Will, and began to speak to him in the strange tongue. Will made motions to show that he didn't understand, but the figures ignored him. They addressed him for a good ten minutes, until they paused and looked at Will expectantly, waiting for an answer._

_ Will made the motions again, and the cloaked man threw up his hands in exasperation. He began to speak, and Will didn't have to understand his words to know that he was reprimanding him. Finally, he turned to the armed man, and said something, beckoning towards Will. The armed man turned toward Will, and took off his helmet. Will gasped._

_ It was Horace. His face was bruised and bloodied, but it was unmistakably Horace._

Will woke up suddendly, shocked. He glanced over at Horace, whowas lying in his bed, unmoving. Slowly, Will got up and walked over to him. He hesitantly looked at Horace's face, fearing that it would resemble the man that Will had seen in the dream. Will sighed in relief when it was unharmed.

He turned to walk back to his own bed when he saw a figure standing in front of the house. Will rushed to the window, and just caught a patch of gray-green fabric disappear around the side of the house.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope I get a silver oakleaf pendent!<strong>


	14. A Late Night Meeting

**I hope you all had a good Christmas! I did, mainly because I got a silver oakleaf necklace. It's pretty awesome. **

**Ummm...so far, I'm having a pretty uneventful break. I really wish that I was with my friend, pearlgirl97, at that place where she went. Where there is snow. Umm...I hope that I get reviews for this chapter, as my two main reviewers, ForeverTexas and Muha4 seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. So...I've been review-less. Sigh.**

**I hope that everyone likes this chapter! NOTE- This is a few days after Alkaney's Story, therefore it isa the night before the games begin.**

* * *

><p>Alyss walked silently through the hallway, her feet making no sound on the carpeted floor.<p>

She knew that she should be sleeping, but it wouldn't come. She almost laughed, thinking about being tired in the following day. The day of the games.

Alyss jumped as a door opened, nearly hitting her and making her collide with the wall. She didn't recognize the room number, so, wincing from the collision, she stayed behind the door. Slowly, she peeked around the side.

A tall, thickset figure came from the room, barely distinguishable in the darkness, yet Alyss could tell easily who it was. She bit her lip to keep herself from gasping and silently cursed her bad luck. It was Jake.

She had seen him in the previous days, and she had seen him staring at her angrily. At least, she thought that he was angry and it wasn't just the expression that his face had taken from all the bruises. Either way, Alyss was fairly certainj that he would take any chance possible to weaken her for the games. She shuddered at the thought of Jake catching her behind his door.

She watched Jake in terror as he turned to close the door, and she had to keep herself from letting in a quick intake of breath. He closed it slowly, and Alyss tried to stay extremely still. She prayed that he wouldn't notice her, and her heart leaped when he turned away.

Jake walked across the hallway and started knocking lightly on one of the doors. Alyss started in surprise as she realized that it was Alkaney's.

When nobody came to the door, Jake started talking softly, and Alyss assumed that he was trying to get Alkaney's attention, though she couldn't hear his words.

Eventually, the door opened and Jake walked in. Alyss puzzled over this, wondering why Alkaney would let Jake into her room this late at night. She was still wondering about this when Jake came back out.

Alyss froze instantly as he walked to the door. Somehow, he still didn't see her standing right next to his door.

As soon as he shut the door, Alyss bolted to her own room.

* * *

><p><strong>So many questions...<strong>


	15. Broadcasts in the Sky

**Hola, Konichiwa, Aloha, Hello! Welcome to chapter...14..I think. Ummm...since the games are about to begin, it is time to count up the current points. Yay. I'm not really excited because it means math, but... I have to do it. Now, I probably got these wrong...so...**

**#1 on account of all of those characters that she gave me is pearlgirl97 with 825 points  
><strong>**Next is ForeverTexas with 730  
><strong>**Muha4 with 380  
><strong>**and finally, TugLover98 with 155**

* * *

><p>Will looked into the sky, dreading the moment that he knew the games would start. He could feel George beside him, and Horace on the other side of George, yet he felt completely alone.<p>

He glanced over at George, who looked just as nervous as Will felt. Then he turned his attention back to the sky, and the Pre-Hunger Games programs. A bunch of careless Scotti were talking animatedly, projected into the sky by Malkallam, the sorcerer.

Will thought about the last time that he had felt this anxious about one of these broadcasts. Right after Jenny had died. Alyss had been with him then, though. He sighed in remembrance.

_They had stared into the sky, hoping that Alyss would not be accused of anything. Will gasped as a blurry picture of Jenny being shot started the show. A vague figure of Alyss was visible, but it was impossible to tell that it was her._

_ Then, a Scotti man plunged into the story, telling everyone of Jenny's treachery._

_ "Two girls commited a treasonous act today. They completely destroyed the Araluen reaping-ball, delaying this years games. One of them, Jenny, was killed. She will be buried as a traitor. The other escaped and killed one of our soldiers. Her identity is unknown."_

_ Will let out a breath as the man continued to tell everyoneabout how much this would delay the games. He smiled at Alyss, but he didn't dare to say anything about her escaping._

Will was brought back to the present as a Scotti man appeared, and music played, breaking the silence that had overtaken the field where the three of them sat.

"Let the 60th annual Hunger Games begin!"

Will braced himself for the worst as the live coverage started.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, refresher on items.<strong>

**Food Items: 5-30 or more depending on the quantity  
><strong>**200 yards of Rope: 30  
><strong>**Painkillers: Around 50 depending on how strong  
><strong>**Simple Medicines:(anything relatively easy to heal) 80  
><strong>**Regular Medicines:(Anything that you would go to the doctor for) 100  
><strong>**Rare medicines: (Anything that we don't have a cure for or difficult poisons) 200  
><strong>**Strikers: 90  
><strong>**Set of Ranger Knives: 100  
><strong>**Dagger: 100  
><strong>**Bow and 10 arrows: 120  
><strong>**25 extra arrows: 30  
><strong>**Sword: 150  
><strong>**Anything Else: Tell me anything that is not on this list and I will work out a price.**


	16. The Hunger Games Begin

**:D Here is Chapter 16. The Hunger Games have finally begun. Yay! Umm...That's all I got.**

* * *

><p>Alyss stood on the platform, nearly frozen in terror. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she wondered how she would survive.<p>

All of the tributes were arranged in a randomized line that resembled a starting line. A large pile of supplies and weapons was present a few meters away from the starting line. Alyss tried not to think about the people who would die there that day.

Alyss listened for the buzzer that signaled the start of the game. Alyss was struck by the resemblence to this of this to that day with Jenny. Alyss bit her lip in panic as she felt herself going back. _No! Not now! _She thought, panicking, but she knew that the flashback was inevitable.

_Alyss and Jenny walked slowly up the ramp that led to the tall stage. The reaping was three days away and Jenny had convinced Alyss that they should do this. _

_ Jenny turned back toward the square to make sure that no soldiers were present. "We have to move Alyss. We have to do this quickly!"_

_ They hurried up the remainder of the ramp and went over to the stand that held the reaping ball. Without even hesitating, Jenny picked up the large orb and threw it on the ground. It shattered, and Alyss winced as a shard pierced her leg. _

_ Then, the sirens started blaring, alerting the soldiers that someone had vandalized the reaping ball._

Alyss was brought back to the present by the buzzer blaring, and the games began. Allof the tributes broke away from the line, running either toward the pile or toward the huge green woods that were in the distance.

Alyss ran quickly toward the pile, and she overtook many of the tributes with her long stride. She grabbed a bag of supplies, and turned and looked for any attacking parties. She expected to see someone swinging a mace at her head or something, but she saw nothing. Reassured, she turned back toward the pile to try and find a weapon.

She saw a pair of knives near the top, and started climbing up, checking over her soldier for anyone attacking her. She never saw anyone, though. All of the other tributes were busy getting supplies of their own.

Finally, she was able to grab the knives, and she turned to go pack down the pile. She slid down, hoping that no one would attack her. Luckily, she was able to make it to the bottom uneventfully, but her peace stopped there.

She had taken only a couple of steps from the pile, when two tributes that Alyss didn't recognize blocked her path while they were fighting over a bag. Alyss wondered about how smart they were, as a large mound of weapons was two feet from them, yet they were fighting hand-to-hand.

She started to run around them, when Jake stepped out from behind them, weilding a large sword.

* * *

><p><strong>DU DU DUUUUUU!<strong>


	17. An Alliance

**Finally! I had an idea! Umm...**

* * *

><p>Alyss woke up tied to a tree. Or,more accurately, she was tied to a high branch of the tree. It wasn't quite dark, but it was stil difficult to see, and Alyss could only barely make out the figure sitting on the ground.<p>

"Hey!" Alyss said, and thbe figure looked up at her sharply. He made a motion for her to keep quiet. Then he walked over, and with apparent ease, started climbing up the tree. He then started to untie her. The knots weren't difficult, so he accomplished this fairly quickly.

Unfortuanately, the loosened ropes caused Alyss to fall to ground, and she hit the ground with a large _thump_.

Alyss glared at the figure, and she could just make out Tucker's features, smiling sheepishly at her. "A tree?" She said, "Why a tree?"

"Just in case anyone..hostile passed through." He said, looking up at the branch he had tied her to.

Alyss sighed. "Would it do me any good to ask how I got here?" She asked. "The last thing I remember is Jake confronting me."

"Jake. He thinks that no one can beat him in battle. I showed him, though." Tucker said proudly.

"So, you killed him?" Alyss asked hopefully.

"Well...no. I just..held him off until you got away." Tucker said nervously.

"Uh-huh. And how, exactly, did I get knocked out?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Tucker.

He hesitated just a little too long before answering. "Umm...Well...As you were running into the forest, you..tripped on a branch and hit your head on a rock."

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Alyss asked.

Tucker nodded.

"Either way, that's the best story I'm going to get, right?"

He smiled, "Yeah.."

Alyss rolled her eyes. "So what time is it?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you think I know?"

"It's been about two hours since I got here, so...I have no idea."

"It's only been two hours? The blood-bath is probably still going on." She said, gazing in the direction that she assumed the clearing was in.

Tucker opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get a sound out, a loud _bang_ interuppted. It was followed by a second, and a third. Then, a dreadful silence filled the forest.

"It's over now." Tucker said mildly, as he glanced at the sky.

"Three deaths? Thats not very many..." Alyss said nervously.

"Twenty-one left." Tucker said, "More than there usually are."

Then, the pictures started. The dead. First, there was a small girl with light brown hair, icy blue eyes, and somewhat pale skin. Under the picture was a name. Cindy Desafe.

Alyss heard Tucker gasp beside her. She turned to him. "What?"

"Cindy...I knew her."

"Was she...nice?" Alyss asked, genuinely curious.

"She was great. Always doing good things for people, and making people smile. She was only eleven."

Alyss looked up at the picture in the sky. "She was only eleven?"

"Yeah. She was a good little girl, but I guess that doesn't get you far here." Tucker sighed.

Next appeared a girl who was about the same age as Alyss. She had dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair. She had to be from Aridda. Kim Pasedes appeared under her name.

"Do you know anything about her?" Alyss asked quietly.

Tucker shook his head solemnly.

Then came the next face. One that Alyss recognized instantly. The tan skin, the sandy blonde hair. And the dull green eyes. It was Tyler.

Alyss gasped. "Tyler?" She said to no one in particular.

"You knew him." Tucker said. It wasn't a question.

Alyss took it as one, though. "Yeah. I practiced throwing knives with him."

"Whatdo you think the point of these games actually is?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know. It could be to keep control over us. It must be hard to keep up with Skandia. Way across the ocean." Alyss answered, still staring at the picture of Tyler.

"Do you think we could stop them?" Tucker asked, and Alyss gasped.

He sounded like Jenny. Alyss answered hesitantly. "Not alone.."

"We wouldn't be alone, Alyss. There's a whole rebellion, in Hibernia. That's why Picta only has Clonmel. And they've almost lost their grip on it!"

She whispered, "How do you know?"

"I lived in Hibernia for fifteen years. You figure out things."

"But the two of us couldn't do anything! We can't defeat everyone here!"

Tucker looked deeper into the forest. "There's an escape. I..I know where it is. It isn't large, and...it's extremely difficult to find. But I think..we could get out."

Alyss looked at the sky, that had gone back to it's natural state. "Why should I trust you?"

"Why shouldn't you?" He said, jokingly.

"Really! Why should I?"

"Because you really have no reason not to trust me." He said. "So, are we an...alliance?"

Alyss looked at him. "I guess we are."

* * *

><p><strong>;)<strong>


	18. Trespassing

**New Chapter! I hope that it gets lots of reviews, and all that. Now, I have a story. Yesterday, some members of our jr. high band went to Centex band auditions. Kaleigh, Austin, Tyler, Josh, Epi, and I were the seventh graders who went. So, lotta stories.**

**Firstly, Epi and I wanted to play basketball in the gym after we tried out, so Epi asked Josh, "Where do we get the basketballs?" To which he replied, "You steal them from somebody." Then, Epi told Josh to go and steal a ball from this guy, and...it was funny. It also caused people to think that Josh is gay. So.**

**Then, Kaleigh threw my copy of The Outcasts over toward this guy, and I wanted to strangle her because it was The Outcasts! But, I just went over there and picked it up, while I was walkinbg back, I was mouthing toward the guy, "She is not my friend." Then, like two minutes later, he called me over, and, I went over because I belive in benefit of the doubt. So, I went over and he says, "We have an even number of short people." Then, motioning toward his friends he goes, "One, two, three," Then, as he said four, he put his arm around me! I blamed Kaleigh.**

* * *

><p>"Who the hell is Tucker?" Will asked George. He tried to keep his voice down, as Horace was "asleep" in the other room.<p>

"I'm guessing that he's just a guy that Alyss met." George answered.

Will shot George a glare. "She wouldn't have formed an alliance with him if he was 'just a guy that she met.'"

George raised an eyebrow at Will. "You saw what happened, Will. You just don't want to admit that someone else was looking out for Alyss."

Will turned and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He knew that George wouldn't follow him. The slam would've waken Horace, and George would need to deal with him.

Will sighed and started walking down the street, toward the forest. He closed his eyes for a minute, thinking. when he opened them, he was startled to see a tall shadow turning a corner. A guard.

Will leapt off the road, and quickly ducked behind a bush. The guard turned the corner, and Will was relieved to see that he was tiring. The man's eyes were drooping with exhaustion, and he wasn't looking around alertly, as a fresh guard would be doing.

The man passed Will, and Will rose from his hiding place, and continued down the road, watching for more guards.

After what seemed like an hour to Will, but couldn't have been more than ten minutes, Will reached his destination. Jenny's grave.

Will looked over his shoulder, watching for more guards, then, seeing nothing, he climbed silently up the fence. As he got to the top, he prepared to jump to the ground. Then, he saw a light shining on him. He closed his eyes, hopng that it was a dream and that he wasn't really there. But, as he opened his eyes, he could still see the light behind him, and a low voice was yelling, "Come down immediately! You are trespassing on private property!"

Will cursed silently and made a decision. He jumped down, and raised his hands as if in surrender, then he turned and sprinted toward the woods, not caring about anything but the treeline.

Then, he felt a huge, sharp pain in his shoulder, and he fell to the ground.

* * *

><p><strong>One more thing. I'm thinking of starting a multi-authored fanfic about...Gilan's apprentice! I want to do it like a third person pov roleplay, only...like a story. PM me if your interested in joining. <strong>


	19. Julia

**Finally! A new chapter. You know, this story has changed so much from my original idea. Like, Tucker was supposed to die in the bloodbath. But, here he is, still alive.  
>Anyway, I saw the trailer for The Hunger Games movie last week, and it looks AMAZING! I can't wait! My mother might not let me see it, though. She apparently doesn't like the idea of kids killing other kids. I'm like, "Mom! I saw The Grey today. Which is rated R. I'm pretty sure that The Hunger Games won't be worse than that! Seriously, I saw The Grey today. It was good. But, seriously, there were 9-year-olds in there! R-rated movie. Hmmm...I'll take Jessy, my 9-year old daughter. I mean, it can't be too bad! Really, people? Really?<strong>

* * *

><p>"You are so evil!" Alyss said to Tucker, as he set traps designed to kill anyone who got too close.<p>

"You would rather Jake come into our camp and murder us in our sleep?" Tucker asked, as he turned to look at Alyss. Even covered in dirt, she looked beautiful. _What are you thinking?_ Tucker asked himself. _She told you that she had a boyfriend._

"Uhh, Tucker?" Alyss asked, noticing Tucker staring at her. "You only going to protect half of the camp?"

Tucker reddened and went back to setting the traps.

Alyss stared into the woods, thinking of how similar they were to the ones in Redmont. The ones with archers hidden in them. She remembered the archer who had shot Jenny. The archer who Alyss had killed in a fit of rage. The archer who had only been about twelve. No older than Alyss or Jenny. Just brainwashed, and trained relentlessly.

Alyss remembered how, just before he died, the archer had told her the thing. The thing that Alyss had kept to herself for two years. The thing that had really endangered her.

Alyss knew that it hadn't been an accident, the reaping. Picta had needed to get rid of her, because she knew. Alyss knew the one thing that Picta tried so hard to hide. The thing that Alyss knew must be true. Alyss also knew that she wouldn't survive the games on her own. If she was to survive, she had to get to Hibernia, where the rebellion was. The rebellion where the archer had been born, the place where he had been captured at a young age.

"Alyss?" Tucker asked, watching her stare off into space. "I'm done..."

Alyss looked around, disoriented. "We have to get to the rebellion." She said.

Tucker looked up, panicked. "They can hear us, Alyss."

"No they can't. They just want us to believe that. Tucker, we have to get out!" Alyss nearly yelled as she got to her feet. "We have to get out!"

"Alyss, we can't get out." Tucker said, looking around for any sign that anyone had heard her outburst. "There-" Tucker hesitated as he saw the expression on Alyss's face. Then he swallowed his feelings. "There is no way out."

"You're lying!" Alyss yelled, as she turned to get out of the camp. She started running toward the edge, still yelling, "You're lying!"

"Alyss, stop! The traps!" Tucker yelled, closing his eyes to spare himself the sight of Alyss being brutally killed by one of his own traps.

But Alyss had already stopped. Because, inches away from one of the traps, was a small girl with shining blonde hair. "Stop!" Alyss yelled, as loud as she could. "Oh god, stop!"

The girl turned to face Alyss, and Alyss could see her youth. "What is it?" She asked.

"There are traps...Tucker, can you take them down?" Alyss asked him.

Tucker looked at the little girl. "I can, but I don't know if I should. She could be in alliance with Jake. They _are_ both Skandian."

"Tucker!" Alyss said. "Why would you even say that?"

"Well, there is the fact that you almost just killed yourself, and the fact that we're both dead because of what you yelled earlier. And yes, they can actually hear us. Sorcerers can do some crazy things." Tucker said irratably.

The girl glared at Tucker. "I am not in alliance with Jake. He's evil!"

Tucker returened her glare. "That's what you would say if you _were_ in alliance with him."

Alyss glared at Tucker. "Take down the traps. Think about it. Even if she is in alliance with Jake, it's not as if the two of us can't defeat her. Plus, we could use more people in our alliance."

"You know, my father always told me to avoid being in any kind of relationship with a girl. I'm starting to see that he was right." Tucker said, as he started to undo the ropes that made up the trap.

The girl entered the clearing that made up their camp when he was done. "So..you want me to join your alliance?" The girl asked Alyss.

"Yeah, and..." Alyss dropped her voice to a whisper. "We know how to get out of here."

"You know, you don't have to whisper that. You've already told the whole forest." Tucker said, as he started setting up the ropes again.

"I don't think that there's a way out." The girl said. "But, I've got almost no chance at winning, anyway. I'm in. I'm Julia, by the way."

"I'm Alyss. And that grumpy person is Tucker." Alyss said, pointing to Tucker.

"At least I don't doom my allies." Tucker said, causing Alyss to turn and glare at him.

"I did not doom us. You were already doomed when you 'rescued' me and formed this alliance." Alyss said.

"Umm...did I miss something?" Julia said, looking at Alyss inquisitively with her sea-blue eyes. "Why was he doomed when he formed an alliance with you?"

"Because I know." Alyss said shortly, before she lay down one the ground. "You two might want to get some sleep. It'll be a long walk tomorrow."


	20. I'm a Little Worried About the Rebelion

**It's true. At this point, I am worried about the rebellion. Seriously. But somehow, I'll have to make them really strong, and...blergh. The poll result was: Gilan and Tug: 25% each. Halt: 50%. So, Will meets Halt first. I bwas hoping that it would be Tug, but...I dunno.**

* * *

><p>The pain was terrible, though Will knew that it wasn't the worst that he would feel. His shoulder had been patched up in a rag-tag manner, and it screamed in protest whenever Will tried to move it.<p>

A soldier had shot Will, and they had captured him. Well, at least he wouldn't be put to death for tresspassing. No, the punishment was lashes. Much better.

WIll almost wished that the soldier had killed him. There wouldn't be pain anymore. No more pain...

But if Alyss survived the games, well Will knew that he couldn't be dead if that happened. So he braced himself for what he knew was coming.

When the whip came, the pain was terrible, to say the least. Will couldn't help crying out. He registered the man holding the whip saying, "One" with a sneer. Then came the next, and it was worse than the last one. "Two" came the call.

_Only twenty-eight more._ Will told himself. The whip came again, and again, and again. Eventually, all of the lashes blurred together, and Will only breifly registered the man saying "Twenty-nine." The whip came again. Will let out a breath. Then his bonds were cut and he was falling.

The pain of hitting the ground was unbearable. Will could fight no longer. Without much resistance, Will let the darkness overtake him.

He woke up in a small camp.

"What the heck?" He said to himself as he gazed around.

"Hey Will!" Came an all too familiar voice.

"George?" Will asked, as he caught sight of the speaker.

George called over his shoulder, "He's awake!"

Then, to Will's amazement, Horace appeared beside George. "Hey Will!" He said, smiling, without the familiar haunted look in his eyes.

"I'm dead." Will muttered. "This can't be real."

Then, as if in agreement, another figure appeared beside George, this one wearing a mottled green cloak, that Will recognized as a ranger cloak. But the rangers had been abolished..

"This is Halt, Will!" George said, practically bouncing with excitement. "He's leader of the rebels!"

"What?" Will asked. He had understood what George had said, but it didn't make any sense. Halt was eight feet tall, and killed bears with his bare hands. This person couldn't have been more than five and a half feet tall.

"It wasn't easy to rescue you, but we managed it. Now you can join the rebellion!" Horace said.

"You came a little late for 'rescuing' me, and all three of you were in the rebellion this whole time?" Will said, staring at them in disbelief.

"I wasn't." George said, "I only joined a few hours ago."

"I've been in it..since Jenny died." Horace said.

"Okaaay. How is it that your suddenly not all paranoid?" Will asked.

"I was never paranoid. I just didn't want to raise suspicion."

Will leaned against a tree. Apparently, everyone had been lying to him.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, maybe not everyone. Just Horace. So..that quite the exaggeration.<strong>


	21. East

**Happy Valentine's Day people! Um..since my two friends, Megan and Kaleigh are single, we also made today Single Awareness Day! If you're single today and you have good friends, you can get a whole flower stem! Yeah. Pretty epic.  
>Also, yesterday Megan and I banned Kaleigh from our bus seat. Why? Because at lunch this guy, Keegan held out a bag of cookies and says "Do you want these, Sutton?" Then Kaleigh grabbed them from him, yelling, "I want them." Keegan said, "Okay, I guess you can have them." Then Kaleigh wouldn't share them with us! So we banned her.<strong>

* * *

><p>"So...Which way is this exit?" Julia asked Tucker.<p>

Tucker picked up a stick and drew a circle in the ground. "Well, imagine that the games are inside a circle, like this one. The games start at the middle." He said, putting a little dot in the middle. "We came east, so we would be around...here" He put an X east of the dot. "The field is surrounded by a fence and-"

Alyss interrupted. "A fence should be easy to get over. Why, we only need to walk east until-"

"The fence is charged by an energy that could kill a person with only a touch. Most of the time..."

"How did they get an energy like that?" Julia asked, looking at the edges of the circle.

"Malkallam. The sorcerer." Tucker said simply, but that was the only answer that Julia needed.

"It's only charged most of the time?" Alyss asked. "Can we tell when it isn't charged?"

"I don't think that it's ever charged. If anyone tried to climb it, they could just turn it on." Tucker said, looking east, where he knew a fence was.

"Well, how can we escape if they can just zap us off?" Alyss asked.

"Luck." Tucker said.

"What?" Alyss said. "So we're most likely going to die while we're trying to escape?"

"We're most likely to die because of the fact that you told everyone that we were planning on escaping."

Alyss opened her mouth to respond, but Julia interrupted her. "You two shouldn't fight about this. Aren't there more important things?"

Tucker and Alyss looked at each other. They both nodded. "Okay so, what do we do?" Alyss asked.

"We have to get to the fence." He said, and he started walking. with Alyss and Julia close behind.

* * *

><p>They were walking in silence. Tucker was in the lead, with Alyss and Julia close behind him. The forest was strangely silent and Alyss couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.<p>

Then, a cannon shot broke the silence, causing Alyss to jump. Then she felt a pang of sadness, realizing what it meant. "I wonder who it was." She said.

"Knowing our luck, it was someone who would've been a good ally." Tucker said darkly.

"Or it could have been some dangerous person who would stop at nothing to win." Julia pointed out.

Tucker grumbled something that Alyss couldn't make out. "How far do we have to go?" She asked.

"How would I know?" He said, as he stepped over a thornbush.

"You're the one who knows these things."

Tucker remained silent, and Alyss noticed yet again how quiet it sounded. "Why do you think it's so quiet?" Alyss asked Tucker.

"I don't know!" He said sharply.

"What do you think, Julia?" She asked.

Julia looked aound. "I'm not exactly an expert on forests or whatever, but wouldn't silence be a sign of danger? Like, all the animals were hiding or something?" She said, a little nervously.

"Tucker, do you think she's right?" Alyss asked.

"Will you stop asking me questions?" Tucker said, matching Alyss's tone.

Alyss narrowed her eyes, and was about to make a scathing reply when a something whizzed past Alyss, barely missing her head. She let out a small shriek.

"What?" Tucker asked, turning around.

"Someone shot something at me!" Alyss hissed as she turned around to see what it was.

"What the hell?" Tucker said when his eyess locked on the object in the dirt. Then he registered what it was, and he cursed under his breath. "We have to get out of here!" He said to Alyss and Julia. Then he turned and started tearing through t6he underbrush, closely followed by his two allies.

High in a tree, the archer smiled as she loaded another needle. The needle had been dipped in Damen poison, which was an extremely lethal poison found only in Hibernia. She nodded to herself as she aimed. They were running right into the trap. Her mission would be too easy.

* * *

><p><strong>I bet you can't guess who it is!<br>In other news, you guys should read this Hunger Games fanfic by ForeverTexas. It's called, Fight to the Death in the 67th Hunger Games. And it has my character, Katana Clasia. It's good. It's really good.  
>P.S. Do any of you want to do a multi-authored fanfic with me. I was thinking that it would be a kind of thing with Gilan's apprentice. It would be kinda like a roleplay, where people tell the story from their character's POV. Anyone interested?<strong>


	22. An Electric Fence

**This chapter is short. All I gots to say.**

* * *

><p>"There are ninety-nine volts of energy going through this fence. I know this will be hard for you to understand, but, Don't. Touch. It." Halt said to Horace, George, and Will.<p>

"Umm...I'm still a little confused about what we're doing." Will said, looking at the fence a little apprehensively.

Halt sighed in exasperation. "Horace, explain it to him."

"We are going to get some of the tributes out of there." He said simply.

"That doesn't really help at all, but...How are we going to get past this, anyway?" Will asked.

"Just watch." Horace said. "I love this part." He said with a slight laugh that put Will on edge.

"Okaaaay..."

"Malcolm!" Halt called into the woods surrounding them.

"Who's Malcolm?" Will asked.

Horace laughed again. "A person..."

Then, a small man came out of the woods. "Halt, I tuaght you how to do this last year, it isn't that hard." He said.

"Yeah, but I have a couple of new recruits." Halt said.

"Isn't it a little dangerous bringing amateurs to the games?" The man asked.

"A slight complication."

"Ah." He said, as if 'complications' were common. Then he leaned down and grabbed a thick cord from under the fence, careful not to touch it. The cord was black, and there was a strange device in the middle of it. The man pulled, and, to Will's amazement, the cord broke in half.

"The game-makers won't suspect anything?" Halt said.

"They never do."

"Okay. We're going over." He said, before jumping onto the fence.

Will let out an involuntary cry as Halt lept, expecting to see him fried by the fence. But nothing happened. "What?..." He said to himself.

Before Will knew what was happening, he was over the fence.

Then they were walking.

* * *

><p><strong>OMG! Walking!<strong>


	23. A Trap

**Next chapter! I'm really bored right now. I'm listening to my music, writing, sitting in my bedroom. Really nothing to do. It's spring break, and Kaleigh(Greenhouse2499) is in freakin' Hawaii. If you live there...watch out. I wouldn't be surprised if she destroyed the state entirely. My boyfriend, Bryson, and his sister Glory(pearlgirl97) are on a cruise to the Caribbeans. I can't even text them because they're out of the country! I bet some of you people are on vacation, too! Gr... P.S. You guys should listen to a sing called, Under a Paper Moon by All Time Low. It's REALLY GOOD. I'm gonna listen to it right after I post this!**

* * *

><p><strong>Jake Takeo's POV<strong>

Jake peered through the grass, watching the three figures running across the ground. He smiled to himself. It would be too easy.

He looked up into the trees, where he saw his archer, smiling at him.

He cast his gaze back to the trio. They were so close to the trap. Once they were caught, there would be three less tributes to worry about.

**Alyss's POV**

"We have to move!" Jake yelled from right in front of Alyss.

"Well, the two of us aren't exactly slowing down!" Alyss yelled back.

Julia yelped, causing Alyss to falter. "What happened?" Alyss asked.

"Nothing." Julia said hurriedly.

"What do you mean by that?" Alyss asked.

"You two realize that talking will slow you down, right?" Jake asked, interrupting whatever Julia might have said.

The group fell into a silence, broken only by the pounding of their footsteps on the forest.

Then Tucker tripped over a small root and fell to the ground. He reached out one arm to catch himself, but it fell through the ground.

"What the heck?" Alyss said.

"It's a trap." Julia breathed. Alyss turned to face her, and gasped when she saw the small girl's injuries. There was a large wound in her right leg, which was seeping blood. She was obviously favoring her left leg. How she had run so far was a mystery to Alyss.

"How did you get that?" Alyss asked.

"There's no time for that." Tucker said. "We need to get out of here!"

"We could fight..." Alyss began.

"No we can't!" Tucker said. "We have no useful weapons between us and Julia is obviously badly injured. We have to get away from here." Without waiting for a response, he turned and ran around the perimeter of the trap, into the trees beyond.

Alyss turned to Julia. "Can you run?" Alyss asked.

Julia nodded. "I'll be fine."

The two girls ran after Tucker, following his trail into the woods.

**Will's POV**

"Where are we even going?" Will asked for the seven-hundredth time.

"Where we end up." Halt answered.

"That doesn't really tell me anything." Will said.

"Well, it's the best answer you'll get, Will." Horace and George said at the same time.

The four travelers had been walking for at least four hours toward the forest. It had become tedious quickly.

"I wish something interesting would happen!" Will yelled at the sky.

"Shut up, Will! Your wish isn't going to come true!" Horace yelled.

Then three shapes appeared out of the trees. Will estimated that they were around a half-mile away. They watched the three figures for a few seconds.

"Who's wish isn't going to come true?." Will asked, casting a glance at Horace.

"We should probably go see what they're running from." Halt said, starting toward the figures.

"What makes you think that they're running from anything?" Will asked.

"Will! Use your common sense! What use would anyone have for running if it wasn't to escape from something quickly? Especially in the games!" Horace said.

"Sorry..." Will trailed off, as the figures came steadily closer. They seemed preoccupied, as they didn't seem to have noticed the four of them. Will couldn't take his eyes off of them, though. He was studying one of the figures in particular. He could only barely make out the details, but...he recognized her.

"Alyss." He whispered. "It's Alyss."

* * *

><p><strong>It sure is, Will! Way to state the obvious! Review if you want to. Send me your vacation tickets if you think I'm awesome. PLEASE!<strong>


	24. A Reunion

**Kaleigh, did you find me a rock in Hawaii? I want to know this! I demand to know this, in fact! In other news, today I went to Enchanted Rock, which is basically a HUGE granite...dome-shaped thing in Texas. It is really cool. I got to the top! Then, I wwanted to go into the cavem but there was a long line to get in, mainly because this one lady was holding it up because she wouldn't go in! She just blocked the entrance! So my dad helped me get down a different way. Then, I went into the main cave part. I took a different way than everybody else, though, because the other way was NARROW! Then, I went in and there was just a line of people going down in, like, a single-file line. I was like, "Forget this!" And I went back out. I hung out in the in-between part for a while before I went out the way that most people were going in. Then, I couldn't figure out how to get away from the cave part, so I lost myself as I explored around for awhile. Eventually, I got out and found my mother. So...Yay I didn't get, like, lost!**

* * *

><p>Will started running toward the three figures. He heard the others yelling at him to stop, but he didn't listen. He just kept running toward the group, completely focused on Alyss's slender figure.<p>

The threesome stopped suddenly, as they saw Will for the first time. They hesitatated for a moment, until Alyss recognized Will. She covered the remaining distance between them quickly and hugged Will fiercely. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

Will looked back at his companions, who were walking slowly toward them. He rolled his eyes. _Some _people were so lazy! "I'm here with the rebels." He said deviously.

Tucker was looking over Will from behind Alyss. "Who is this?" He asked. "And if you're here with rebels, how come I've never seen you at the meetings?"

"This is Will!" Alyss said happily.

"And I kind of just joined the rebels." Then Will realized the full extent of what Tucker had said. "You're in the rebellion?" He asked.

Tucker nodded. "For as long as I can remember." He said the words like they made him better than Will.

Will would've responded scathingly, but he was cut off as Julia groaned and fell to her knees.

Alyss rushed over to the little girl. Julia looked at Alyss with her blue eyes. "I'm going to die, aren't I?" She asked. She had her weapon clutched tightly in her hands.

Alyss shook her head. "No. Will's here. He can help."

"What?" Will asked.

Alyss shot him a glare. "His friends can help, at least." She added to Julia.

Just then Horace arrived at their spot. "Why did you all stop running?" He asked. Then his eyes fell on Julia. "Oh..."

Julia's eyes focused on Horace. "I know I'm going to die. There was poison in the arrow. I know there was. You don't have to pretend that there's hope."

Horace shook his head. He looked at Alyss. "What kind of poison was it?" He asked her.

Alyss shrugged as Tucker said, "It's Damen poison."

"Damen poison..." Horace said, trying to remember whether it was treatable.

The Halt and George caught up. Horace immediatelyn pounced on Halt. "Halt! What's Damen poison?" Horace asked.

"A Hibernian poison that has only an extremely rare antidote." Halt said.

Alyss gasped. "So..you don't have an antidote?" Alyss asked.

Halt looked at Julia. "How long ago was she poisoned?" He asked.

"About an hour ago," Alyss said.

"There might just be time to get her back to camp." Halt said. "Maybe."

"Well, take her, then!" Alyss said.

Halt turned to Will. "You have to take her."

"What?" Will said. "But-" He tried to think of a reason that he couldn't go. "I don't know what the antidote looks like!"

Halt raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't need to. Malcolm should be at the camp. He'll tell you what the right antidote is. You're the fastest, so you have to go."

* * *

><p><strong>Terrible ending, I know, but I was tired of writing. I'm tired of everything, in fact. <strong>


	25. Cannon Shots

Will's lungs screamed for air as he ran as fast as he could to get back to the camp. It didn't help that the little girl got really heavy after a while.

After what seemed like hours, but was actually only minutes, Will saw the fence. He doubled his efforts, trying to get to the fence quickly. When he finally got there, however, he was faced with a dilemma.

"How the hell am I supposed to get over that?" He asked himself as he looked up the huge fence. He stood there considering for a few minutes before he decided that he should just sling the little girl over his shoulder and climb back over.

It was easier said than done, though. Will nearly fell off quite a few times, and it was slow going. When he reached the top, Will leaped off. He hit the ground hard, but immediately resumed running.

Finally, he reached the camp. As Halt had said, Malcolm was sitting near a tent, mixing something.

"Malcolm!" Will yelled. "I need an antidote!"

Malcolm looked shocked to see Will, but he quickly got over it. "What kind of poison is it?"

Will searched his mind for the name of the poison, but came up blank. "Something Hibernian…um….what was it?"

"Damen poison." Malcolm said.

"That's it!" Will said.

Malcolm walked into the tent and came out holding a small black bottle.

Will set Julia on the ground. "Do you have an antidote?"

Malcolm stared at Will. "I wonder if it's hereditary." He said as he bent down to Julia.

"What?" Will asked, wondering what Malcolm was talking about.

"The idiocy. I remember your father having it, too."

"Are you calling my father an idiot?" Will asked.

"No. I'm calling you an idiot. I was simply comparing your father to you." Malcolm said as he administered the antidote.

"Um..Okay." Will said. "So…will she be okay?"

Malcolm hesitated. "Maybe. It's a close thing. She might be okay. Then again, you might have gotten here just a few minutes too late."

Will contemplated the minutes he had spent trying to figure out a way over the fence and instantly felt guilty. "So what do we do now?"

"I'm staying here with her. You're going back into the arena." Malcolm answered. "By the way," he added as Will turned to leave. "You're lucky that I still had the fence turned off. You'd be dead by now if it had been turned on."

Alyss stood holding her breath next to Tucker, waiting for Will to return. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Alyss asked.

"I don't know. She'd be fine if it wasn't for Jake and Alkaney."

"Alkaney? What does she have to do with anything?"

"Her and Jake are in an alliance. You didn't see them?"

Alkaney would never be in an alliance with Jake." Alyss said, a little doubtfully. She remembered the night when Jake had gone into Alkaney's room.

"You didn't see them, Alyss. Alkaney tried to kill us. She might have killed Julia."

"Wouldn't Jake want to keep Julia around, though. They _are_ both Skandians."

"He probably would've, but she got in the way."

"What do you mean?" Alyss asked.

"He told Alkaney to get you. She was aiming straight for your heart, Alyys. You'd be dead by now if it wasn't for Julia."

"How do you know—" Alyss started to ask, but she was cut off by a loud cannon blast. She gasped. "You don't think that was for…"

"I don't know." Tucker responded.


	26. Such a Dismal Failure

Will was walking to the group, back to Alyss, when he heard the cannon go off. _Another death..._

He continued walking, wanting to get back to Alyss, wishing that he could go faster, but not wanting to be exhausted when he got back to her.

When he came to a wide stream, he took a drink of water, then backed up so he could get a running start, hoping to clear it without getting his feet wet.

Then someone grabbed his arm.

* * *

><p>Alyss was worried. "I hope they're okay. I mean, what if Will didn't get to the fence? What if someone killed him while he was on his way there? That would explain the cannon!"<p>

Tucker tried to calm her down. "Or maybe Will got her to the camp just fine and is on his way back right now. Maybe the cannon was for someone else."

"But what if something did happen?" Alyss said. "Oh, we never should have sent them!"

"Alyss," Horace said. "We _had_ to send them. You know that."

Alyss nodded.

"I'm sure they're fine.

* * *

><p>Will whirled to face the person who was holding arm and found himself face-to-face with a thin, pale girl with long brown hair. He tried to pull his arm away, but her grip only tightened.<p>

"So you're Will," the girl said. "I must say, I expected…more."

"How do you know my name?" Will asked.

"Alyss told me, of course. Such a _pretty_ girl."

Alyss had told her. Okay, that might make sense. Alyss was pretty social. Except… "But how did you know that _I _was Will?"

The girl laughed. "I've been watching you. And I kind of like you. It's kind of sweet, how much you just _love_ Alyss. Such a shame that you're such a dismal failure."

"How am I be a dismal failure? I'm not a dismal failure!" Will said. He tried to pull his arm free, but she tightened her grip more. Will imagined that he could feel his bones splintering. He gritted his teeth. "I got Julia to Malcolm. I saved her."

She smiled, laughed. "Oh, but you didn't save her." Her eyes were yellow, Will noticed. Yellow. "My friend Jake, he's taking care of Julia. Probably will end up killing the old man too."

Will shook his head. It couldn't be true, it couldn't! "Jake doesn't know where the camp is."

"Yes he does. You led him right to it."

Will shook his head again. He couldn't have—He would have known if someone was following him. Wouldn't he?

"I actually think they're already dead. Didn't you hear the cannon?" She smiled at him, revealing a row of sharp teeth.

Will tried to pull his hand away again, but she tightened her grip just a little more. "I could snap your wrist right now." She said calmly.

"Why did you have to kill them?" Will asked. "They weren't any danger to you!"

"We couldn't allow young Julia to live. As long as that girl lived, Jake or I could never really be the victor. There'd always be one person that, whichever of us won, didn't beat."

Will closed his eyes. "And Malcolm wouldn't have let Jake kill Julia without defending her."

"Most likely. Maybe he was smart enough to realize that he couldn't defeat Jake, but probably not. If you ask me, it's high time that he was revealed as a fake and a traitor."

Will choked on a sob. "He _wasn't_ a fake, and he _wasn't_ a traitor!"

She laughed. "Well, he definitely_ wasn't_ a sorcerer and he definitely _wasn't _loyal to Picta."

"But he—he never claimed to be a sorcerer!"

"Yes, he let others do that for him. Much more honorable."

Will let out a shuddering breath and looked at the ground. "Much more honorable than you."

"Really? The _rebel_ was more honorable than the girl who only played by the rules?" She laughed again. "You know it's true. That's why you won't meet my eyes."

Will shook his head, but remained silent.

"You know, in this light, from this angle, you actually almost look handsome. Almost look worthy of that beautiful girl. Such a shame that I have to kill you before you get back to her."

Will looked up sharply, which caused the girl to laugh. "Why do you_ have_ to kill me?"

"Well, Jake and I, we're both very aware that you would die for Alyss. After all, you're here, right?"

Will stared at the girl with fear in his eyes.

"We don't particularly want to deal with one more extra person getting in the way." She almost actually looked regretful.

"You're going to kill Alyss?" Will asked. Somehow, the prospect seemed unbelievable to him, after he'd come so close to getting her back.

She laughed. "In case you hadn't noticed, that's how this game works." She pulled a knife out of a sheath with the hand that wasn't squeezing Will's wrist. She looked at Will once again. "If it makes you feel better, I really do hate doing this."

Will tried to jerk his wrist away once again, and the girl broke his wrist. He felt a flash of white-hot pain. Then, in one fluid motion, she stabbed him in the chest, and quickly pulled her knife away. It was covered in blood.

Will put his hand over the gash in his chest. When he pulled his hand away it was covered in blood. His breath came quicker and quicker.

Alkaney looked up from studying her knife. One corner of her mouth curled up into a smile before she pushed Will into the river.

* * *

><p><strong>I just killed Will...<strong>


	27. The Finality of Death

Jake found Alkaney sitting on a stone near the river, sharpening her knife.

"Hey," he said, sitting beside her.

"Hey," she said absently.

"Is he dead?"

Alkaney nodded. "What about the girl?"

"Dead."

Alkaney held up her knife and nodded, satisfied. She looked at Jake. "So when do we kill the rest of them?"

Jake smiled. "Why not now?"

* * *

><p>"Will should be back by now, shouldn't he?" Alyss asked for the hundredth time.<p>

"Would you like us to just assume that he's dead?" Halt asked.

"Halt!" Horace said, glaring.

Alyss sighed. "No, it's fine. He's right. Will's probably fine."

* * *

><p>Alkaney smiled at Jake. "What a wonderful idea. Athough, I think that we maybe should, um…" Alkaney trailed off as if thinking, but she took three arrows from Jake's quiver and grabbed his bow.<p>

"What?" Jake asked, right as Alkaney fired three arrows into the woods in quick succession.

Alkaney smiled at Jake. "I was going to ask if maybe we could everyone who was remaining first. But I believe we just got the last three." She walked into the woods, then stopped and looked at the bodies. "Okay, let's go kill them!"

* * *

><p>"So are we just going to stay here until he shows up?" Tucker asked.<p>

Alyss glared at him. "Of course!"

"But…it seems awfully exposed. And, um…Well, couldn't we be walking to the fence on our own? Like, we'd maybe meet him on his way back?"

Alyss looked at him with a 'why are you so stupid?' expression on her face.

Tucker sighed, giving up. He supposed that Will would be there soon enough.

* * *

><p>"Okay. Here's the plan." Alkaney said. "We technically only need to kill Alyss and Tucker. They're the only two tributes left. But the other two could be a danger to us as well. Therefore, I think we should probably kill them as well."<p>

Jake nodded.

"So here's what we'll do. You'll run at them with your battleaxe and create as big of a distraction as you possibly can. I'll sneak up on them and kill whoever I can. Sound good?"

Jake looked at Alkaney. "It seems like I'll be in more danger than you will be."

Alkaney shook her head. "I'll have my bow. I'll be able to pick off anyone who might be a danger to you. I won't have anyone who will do that for me."

"You'll be hiding, though."

Again, Alkaney shook her head. "It's way out in the open. There won't be any very good hiding places."

Jake nodded, satisfied. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>"Someone's coming." Halt said, beginning to pulling an arrow out of his quiver.<p>

Alyss smiled. "Will! He's finally back!"

"Maybe." Halt said. "Maybe not."

"Of course it's Will! Who else would it be?" Alyss asked.

"Someone much more dangerous than Will, maybe?" Tucker offered. "This_ is_ the Hunger Games."

ALyss glared at Tucker. "It's Will. I can feel it."

* * *

><p>"You ready?" Alkaney asked Jake. They were in the forest about six hundred meters away from the camp.<p>

Jake nodded.

"Okay. As soon as you become a sufficient distraction, I'll begin my attack. Try not to get killed _before _then."

Jake smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "I'll _try_."

Alkaney rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I'd be in a bit of trouble if you decided to die."

"Fine, fine." Jake said, before taking off for the camp, battleaxe in hand.

* * *

><p>Tucker stared at the figure approaching the camp. "Hey, there's someone coming." He said.<p>

Halt followed his gaze and nocked an arrow, ready to shoot if the need arose.

Alyss sighed. "Why are you getting ready to shoot, Halt? It's just Will."

Halt looked at the girl, then returned his gaze to the figure who was much closer now. He shook his head. "No. Definitely not Will."

Horace glanced at Halt. "Why don't you shoot him?"

"He isn't close enough."

"_Also_, we don't know what his intentions are." Tucker said.

Horace and Halt both looked at Tucker, shaking their heads as their gazes returned to the figure.

Alyss looked from Tucker to Horace to Halt, thinking only that they were preparing to kill Will. They were actually going to kill Will.

Halt drew is bowstring back. The time was almost right to shoot the person.

Then Alyss screamed and threw herself at Halt, throwing his arrow far off-course.

Halt glared at the girl. "It isn't Will, girl! There is no way that person is Will!"

Alyss stared at the person who was now almost fifty meters away, really seeing him for the first time. He was too big to be Will. Far too big.

"But what about Will?" She asked. No one answered.

* * *

><p>Alkaney watched Jake run into the fray, and she worried.<p>

She knew that he was wearing body armor underneath his clothes, and that mere arrows probably wouldn't kill him. But still, she worried.

She worried because everything was on the line, everything that would lead to her success.

Since she had killed Will, she'd had an epiphany. She'd realized that she couldn't keep pretending that both her and Jake could win. She needed to prepare herself to get rid of Jake.

She'd concocted a plan that, if it went right, would end with all of the other tributes dead and with Alkaney as the victor.

If it went right.

If it went wrong, anyone could end up as victor, including Alyss. Alyss didn't deserve to be victor! She hadn't even killed a single person!

And so Alkaney worried.

* * *

><p>The arrows that Halt shot wouldn't stop the person. Halt cursed. "They must be wearing body armor."<p>

Horace stared at Halt. "So? Stop him!"

Halt looked at Horace. "Arrows won't pierce body armor."

"He has a battleaxe." Tucker observed. "Anyone have any ideas how to stop him?"

No one did.

* * *

><p>Alkaney watched as Tucker fell upon the camp. <em>Now I can go.<em> She thought as she left her hiding place and began running to the camp. She had her knife in her hand, as well as the bow slung across her back.

As she neared the camp, she could clearly see the Jake had the advantage. He'd killed one of the rebels, the old man, and he was attacking Tucker.

Alkaney smirked. So nice of Jake to do all of the work for her. Still, she wanted some blood on her hands. She saw the other rebel, staring at the body of the old man. His lips were forming silent words, and he was shaking his head, as if denying his death.

Alkaney drew an arrow and shot at him, but she missed. She stared at the bow in surprise. She _never _missed!

* * *

><p>Alyss watched Jake attack Tucker. Tucker was avoiding Jake's axe, but he was tiring, Alyss could tell.<p>

Alyss stared at the knife in her hand. _So far I haven't killed anyone. Can I do it now?_ She wondered. She looked back up at Tucker, who was fighting for his life, and she knew that she could.

Jake was wearing an odd helmet, one that covered all of his face, save for his eyes. That was Alyss's target.

Her heart was beating fast in her chest, and she tried to slow it, but she couldn't.

_All right. Steady, now. Steady._ She threw the knife and closed her eyes, hoping, praying that she hadn't missed.

She heard a cry of pain, and opened her eyes to see Jake, the hilt of a knife sticking out of his eye.

Tucker looked back at Alyss and smiled, and Alyss smiled back before she saw Jake, who was thrashing about behind Tucker. "Tucker, watch out!" She screamed, but not in time. The battleaxe that was swinging wildly around with Jake lodged itself in Tucker's back a mere second before Jake collapsed.

* * *

><p>Alkaney quickly drew another arrow. The rebel was looking around for the source of the arrow, and Alkaney wanted him dead before he saw her.<p>

She shot another arrow.

* * *

><p>Tucker stared at Jake's fallen body for a moment before falling to the ground himself. <em>It's strange. <em>He thought. _I really can't even feel it._

He became aware of Alyss's presence beside him. Se had fallen to her knees, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. "It's okay, Tucker, you'll be okay. You're fine." She was saying.

Tucker looked at her, raised an eyebrow. "I know I'm not fine, Alyss. But it's okay. I can't even feel it."

Alyss closed her eyes. "You have to be fine, though! You were supposed to come with us, you were supposed to be in the rebellion with us!"

Tucker shook his head. "Well, obviously I wasn't. Else I wouldn't be dying_ here_."

Alyss looked at him. "But you _can't_ die here!"

Tucker shook his head. "I'm going to, though."

* * *

><p>The second arrow passed a few inches above Horace's head. And then he saw the girl.<p>

She had a bow much like Halt's, but she wasn't as good of a shot as Halt. Halt never missed.

But Halt was dead. As much as Horace didn't want Halt to be dead, Halt was dead.

Horace saw the girl nock another bow and thought, _Halt could shoot a lot _faster_ than she could, too._

It was the third arrow that went through his chest.

* * *

><p>Alkaney smiled. <em>Finally<em>, the rebel was dead. She looked around, making sure that she was the only one still alive and her gaze fell upon another living soul.

She reached into her quiver to get another arrow, but there were none left. _That can't be right. I know that I brought more than three arrows. Didn't I?_ She thought and cursed herself for being so stupid. Then she drew her knife and started walking toward Alyss.

* * *

><p>Alyss was grieving for Tucker when she became aware of a person walking towards her. She looked up sharply and, to her surprise, it was Alkaney walking toward her.<p>

"Alyss, when we were training, there were many people that I thought could be the runner up, but you were not one of them." Alkaney said. She was holding a knife.

Alyss drew her second knife. "You caused all of this." She said.

Alkaney nodded. "Pretty much." She looked at Jake and sighed. "Your work, I presume?" she shook her head. "It's such a painful way to die."

Alyss stared at Alkaney. "It was more than he deserved."

Alkaney laughed. "Alyss, do you honestly still think that you will win?"

Alyss sighed, pulled herself to her feet. "When this all started, there were twenty-four tributes and only one victor. Now there are only two tributes. I think my chances have gone up a little."

"Your anger is blinding you, Alyss. Your chances haven't gone up. If anything, they've gotten worse. Before, you could rely on someone else killing me. Now…" Alkaney trailed off, giving Alyss a meaningful look.

"Win or lose, I'll still go down fighting." Alyss said, before throwing her second knife.

It hit Alkaney in the shoulder, too far from her heart. Alkaney stared at it for a moment. "Once there was a little girl who wanted a little blown-glass bird. She nearly killed a girl to get it. When she got older, she volunteered for the Hunger Games. She wanted to be the victor, and she killed nearly twenty people to be it."

Alyss backed up a step. "Alkaney, what is wrong with you?"

Alkaney looked from the knife in her shoulder to Alyss. "Why should you be any different, Alyss?" She lunged forward with her knife, but she was injured and Alyss was not. Alyss was able to dodge the knife.

Alyss knew that it wasn't very honorable, but she didn't see any other choice. She ran off, in the direction that she knew the fence to be in.


	28. Epilogue

~Eight years later~

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find Ava Kingsley?" The woman said. Jennifer looked up from her calculations.

"Uhh…Not at this moment," Jennifer said. "She's a bit of a wanderer. Always going for long walks by the rivers and through the woods and all that."

"And she's on one of these walks right now?"

Jennifer nodded. "She'll be back soon, though. Her sons are racing today and she_ never_ misses a chance to see them run." Jennifer rolled her eyes, going back to her calculations.

* * *

><p>The woman walked purposefully through the narrow street. It wasn't hard to find the race, as a crowd was gathered already to watch the younger children race. The woman watched as a blonde-haired boy of about five ran onto the track, followed by four other boys. They lined up behind a stick positioned in the dirt. One of the adults, a man who looked almost seventy yelled, "Go!"<p>

The boys took off. The woman watched them running. The blonde kid had started off in the lead, but one of the other boys, a skinny, dark-haired kid, was quickly gaining ground.

The people around her were all cheering, and she figured that she must look rather odd, so she started screaming, "Go! Go!"

The dark-haired boy ended up winning, and the woman saw money changing hands around her. She shook her head. People would bet on anything.

Then a group of slightly older boys took their places. The youngest was about seven, skinny and wiry, with the same blonde hair as the younger kid. The oldest couldn't have been over nine.

The same routine went on. The old man yelled, "Go!" And the boys went. This time, however, there wouldn't be any contest. The youngest kid was well ahead of everyone, and gaining every second. He reached the finish line a few seconds ahead of all the other competitors. Almost as soon as he got there, he was whisked into the air by a tall, blonde woman. She was smiling widely.

The woman smiled too. After all, in only a few seconds, she'd be the victor of the 60th Hunger Games.

She thrust her way out of the crowd, preparing herself, waiting for the right time. She drew her bow, nocked an arrow.

* * *

><p>Ava Kingsley, who had once been called Alyss Mainwaring, was in the process of forgetting her past. After she'd fled the arena, she'd gone straight to Hibernia, hitching rides when she could, walking when she couldn't. She'd changed her name, gotten married, and had two sons.<p>

Alkaney Herord, who was the recorded victor of the 60th Hunger Games, refused to call herself victor, not until all of the other tributes were dead. She'd searched for Alyss as soon as she could, but she'd lost time with all of the intricacies involved with being victor. So it had taken eight years for her to find Alyss again.

Alyss wasn't expecting Alkaney to even come after her, but she'd tried to make herself as hard to find as possible, just in case.

She wasn't expecting the arrow when it came.

* * *

><p><strong>Acknowledgements(because I feel like I need them for this story that probably would have given me cancer without these people):<strong>

**First of all, every single story that I have on this website is owed to peargirl97, who told me about this website and made me actually _DO _something on here. Also, she did like all of the Arridi and-I think-Gallica characters, which, even though I pretty much never really used any of them, was _pretty_ helpful.  
>Secondly, thanks to my two best friends(ever), tuglover98 and KscoElak, for being my best friends.<br>Thanks to ForeverTexas3(AKA . .Again.) and Muha4 for being my first two every-chapter reviewers. There's no way this story would have even gone anywhere without you two.  
>And finally, thanks to everyone else who's ever reviewed-Cryptic Metaphor(awesome username, by the way. Also, thanks for the cookie!), SwiftslashxLeafstorm, Cloudseeker6729, Something Spiffy, a random Guest, maddie, and NeoGenesis2013(Oh my gosh, that's the actual year right now!)<strong>

**And finally, finally, thanks to Suzanne Collins and John Flanagan for these two series! **


End file.
